Strike nursing

[trulefty]

Just wanted to get some info on how some nurses only work strike positions. Are there enough out there to make a fairly routine salary? I currently work as a traveler and have thrown in a few strikes. Would like to do more, but my travel assignments have interfered and I like to eat. Any info would be greatly appreciated

[toomuchbaloney]

You state that you were making comments reflecting your experience ONLY but then you apply your experience to all of nursing.

Nurses are...

That is a broadly painted statement, no matter how you finish the sentence.

You suggest nurses are butt hurt because scabs cross the picket line to support management in their labor disputes while you display butt hurt over your post being critiqued. meh

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

But you are highlighting the point I am making. I am expressing my experiences with the field, which are mine alone and your response is that I am too stupid to interpret what happens around me, I deserve this kind of treatment and that I am mentally unstable.

You are expressing the point that I am making, and if we were to look objectively at the matter anyone would see you are not correct. Pretty much, you have insulted me to argue the fact that nurses are not cruel. Not to be rude, but this is the attitude among nurses that I am talking about. These are the types of people that I have no loyalty to and I never will.

Again, my experience is that many nurses ARE backstabbing, catty and cruel. I've seen nurses run others off the floor (destroying their livelihoods) just because they didn't like them. Say what you will, but a person who seeks to destroy someones ability to support themselves is pretty much an evil person.

I do agree with you completely that we should all work together for the betterment of nurses future. The problem is that you have not made a convincing argument that is based in humility and understanding, this would have helped to get people to understand about what you are trying to say.

Nursing IS filled with cruel, backstabbing, unethical people who are willing to destroy the live hoods of others for their own personal reasons. You can say all you want that this doesn't exist (again, a statement that completely lacks humility and understanding) but I have seen it time and time and time again with my own eyes.

I had to leave the last floor because a pack of wolves were getting rid of all people they didn't like. I ended up finding a better facility where we all care about each other and work together. You better believe I would do anything for my team because I care about them. Who I don't care about are the negative nurses that have infested our field and are ruining the chances of many to succeed in this field.

Have a great day.

If you want to say that in YOUR experience, nurses are catty, backstabbing or whatever, that's one thing. But you didn't say that. You said that "nurses are so cruel and backstabbing," that "the field is brutal and cruel" and that you see no reason to be loyal to others of your profession. That says that ALL nurses are cruel, backstabbing and that the ENTIRE profession is brutal and cruel. If that is your experience, I stand by my statement that it says more about YOU than it says about the entire profession. I doubt you KNOW the entire profession or even most of it.

[morningland]

Ya know. You are right. I shouldn't have generalized so much. not all nurses are cold and cruel. However, in my experience it seems to be more common. To be fair though, this coldness exists in all walks of life. I guess maybe I am projecting a little too much based on my experience and that isnt right.

However, I guess it's all in how we say things. I likened the comments of ruby to the battle axe nurses I've worked with and that really isn't fair because I don't know you. So please accept my apologies for that.

Having said that, I actually decided to refuse my offer for a strike nursing job based on the humble, thoughtful, logic opinions of a few posters. They got me to think and I decided that I don't want to support strike nursing.

My change of heart didn't come from the lame people who are just calling strike nurses scabs; they represent the population of nurses that I can't stand on a very personal level. I did however remember that there are kind and compassionate nurses out there who are struggling and we should t undermine the unions efforts.

Having said that, I still don't judge strike nurses. If they need to earn a decent pay taking care of people who need it then that is there choice that I can't judge.

Anyways, i guess the more laid back people on this thread can know that changed someone's mind

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Workers who cross the picket lines are​ scabs. That is the definition of the word.

[morningland]

Workers who cross the picket lines are​ scabs. That is the definition of the word.

True, but the patients on the other side of the picket line are humans with healthcare needs. People aren't crossing a picket line aren't building cars or delivering mail, they are providing life saving measures for people in need.

Thats the sticky issue with strike nursing as I see it.

[toomuchbaloney]

True, but the patients on the other side of the picket line are humans with healthcare needs. People aren't crossing a picket line aren't building cars or delivering mail, they are providing life saving measures for people in need.

Thats the sticky issue with strike nursing as I see it.

The sticky issue for me is that in a nursing strike, the facility is generally given adequate notice so that they may minimize the number of THEIR patients in the building so as to insure the safety and adequate coverage for the care while the primary work force is striking(usually for issues related to safe care as well as reasonable compensation). The sticky issue is that strike nurses are adopting the attitude and position of the employer when they cross that picket line. The sticky part is that those scabs are NOT supporting nursing, they are supporting management.

Yup, I understand that this may be good money for a nurse who needs it. Those nurses just need to understand that what they do will not be celebrated by their peers who dare to strike to improve working conditions and patient safety.

[TriciaJ, RN]

Ok, what is the alternative to strike nurses? If the nurses that are hired to take care of the patients are on strike, who do you suggest take care of the patients ? Shouldnt patient care be the top priority? Or do you think patients should be left to care for themselves during the strike? Confused here.

Striking nurses always organize a critical care pool and give hospitals strike notice to plan ahead. Nurses rarely strike over pay and benefits alone (although you'll get that impression from the media); nurses will usually be pushed to a strike when they're stretched so thin that patient care is consistently compromised. Hospitals love pushing the envelope to the max.

If you're crossing a picket line, you're not doing anything noble for the patients. You're just dooming them to chronically poor-quality care, for your own bottom line. Nursing strikes are rare and done with the big picture in mind.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

THANK YOU MORNINGLAND! I so appreciate your being willing to learn.

I've also changed my mind about issues after reading my fellow nurse's posts here.

I've never had to strike, but have supported colleagues who did.

My union always expects any striking nurse to be in uniform on the picket line. RN leaders give their cell numbers to nursing management and the CEO so they can be called if patient care Is jeopardized at all. Once a nursing supervisor called because the agency nurse told her she was not familiar with a procedure. A competent RN went in, took report, and cared for the patient.

It is not considered crossing the line if called in for patient safety.

I think managementb would be more likely to bargain in good faith if they didn't have replacement nurses.

PS: I don't like to call my fellow nurses names.

One though really showed something. After shift change the bus taking the previous shift back to the hotel drove past the picket line. Many hands held money up to the windows. One person acrobatically put a bare behind against a window.

[poolela]

I was looking into strike nursing as a Google search, and this thread came up. Strange times.

I understand why people strike. Not everyone has a union available. I can understand why organizing would be a fearful task.

Honestly, most of the places I've worked have been ok without a union. I get that some places need them to protect the profession.

But if I need work, and some other state has a strike and I can go, I will. Why you strike, and how long it drags on is not my concern. I dont care what youre fighting about.

Yes, hospitals should deal with your union more reasonably. Yes, they should pay you more. Yes, they should have shipped all the patients to another facility, so that you and your colleagues can picket in front of an empty hospital without pay. That'll show 'em.

But they didnt.

But none of that is my concern.

And I'm available.

I'm coming to make money.

Your patients will receive great care, and I'll make out like a bandit.

Your name-calling doesnt effect me in the slightest.

Your picket lines dont effect me.

Im not scared of any of you.

I will step through, over, or on you to do your job.

Chew that over for a while while I pack my bags to come to your town.

[dab121504]

I crossed the line for this reason, to allow the union nurses to strike! Their demands were falling on deaf ears. The hospital had to put out a boat load of $$. Strike was over and settled in 2 days! Kudos to the unions. I wish we had a nationwide nurses union. Us southerners get the shaft.

[elkpark]

I crossed the line for this reason, to allow the union nurses to strike!

Oh, come on ...

[Dexterosa]

Hey, that is true. It is very interesting topic to think about. I never seen a strike. No idea what is going on in reality. I can imagine hospitals which fire nurses who are trying to have established basic rights. Places where they delete overtimes the nurse worked. Places which would abuse nurses to double ratios on continuing daily basis. Would refuse bypass hospital... and just put the patients in the hall way. Nurses will have to do it. And if they make mistake because they are running insane amount of seriously sick patients... it is not hospitals fault. So I am imagining nurses who are fed up. Want to have humane conditions to work. I can't imagine that nurse would just leave patients to die because they are on strike. And then there are nurses who are willing to jump in. Because hospitals are not willing to change the ways they treat their staff. And they want to have business to keep going. On the other side, unfortunately - we nurses are backstabbing each other even in the underpaid, full time regular daily jobs.... But then those strike nurses will happily benefit from the advancement the striking nurses made for them. It would be lovely if those strike nurses could enjoy that few days or few weeks of joy on double rate under one condition (lets make it a law) that they would have to work whole year under the conditions the striking nurses did. Just a random thought.