Sympathy strike...would you do it??

Nurses Union

Published

I belong to a very strong union who is very opinionated. I don't always agree with their stance on things. There is another union who is striking for possible benefit take-aways...I don't know the true details of what is being proposed to them...because it isn't my union. This other union is NOT a nurse's union. ( I am in a nurse's union)

Our union recently got an EXCELLENT contract passed that starts now and expires in 2014. We had no take-aways at all and excellent pay increases and even a bonus. Our union is telling us we should honor the other union's picket line for a one-day strike in Sept...and even though we have a great contract now, we will be next on the chopping block! (their opinion)

I have a hard time agreeing that we should have a sympathy strike like this when I am completely satisfied with my contract and the employer. Our contract states there is to be NO stop in work or lock-outs. The union says there is a state law that protects us if we have a sympathy strike. The union also believes we won't be locked out if we only strike for ONE day...how do they know?? I feel they are going against our contract if they strike. We are being told to not come to work that day, even if we aren't actually picketing.

What would you do? I am thankful I have a job in this economy!

I do not agree with the sympathy strike in principle. Unfortunately, I am scheduled to work on Sept 22 and I will be there picketing instead of providing care for my patients.

Participated in the sympathy strike today. The turnout was phenomenal!!! If you didn't want to picket, you could have stayed home. Read your manual for clarification!!!

I'm sure a lot of comments on this topic are made by nurses that either Do Not have a Union and come to our state to make "quick money"and nurses that have disgusting working conditions at home...ever think you might be able to make that same money at home if you organized???? And, secondly, if you're a member of a nurses union and cross the picket lines...do you really think management give a rat's a@@ about you, and your coworkers will look at you differently after that....If you don't want to picket...keep your gutless noise at home...and read your manual to get educated!!!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
wow.

4 pages of responses.

not a single entry related to professionalism, or responsibility to your patients. no consideration of the effect that the strike will have on them, or the colleagues that will be stuck taking care of them.

this isn't a factory. you can't just shut down the assembly line and walk away, smugly satisfied how you are sticking it to the money grubbing capitalists. your strike will have a definite effect on your patients, their families, and your reputation in the community. it violates your contract. it will create (or increase) an adversarial relationship, and will hurt you in the long run.

is the union representing your interests, or their own?

management of the hospitals affected by the sympathy stikes has known of the coming sympathy strike since it was proposed. they have had every opportunity to ensure patient safety including early discharges, transfers to other hospitals and closing the ers and ors. patient safety is ultimately up to the management . . . they're the ones who mandate unsafe staffing practices, make a rule that lift equipment must be used on every patient who weighs more than 16 kg. but fail to purchase the needed lift equipment while denying workman's comp to nurses who were hurt doing lifts without the equipment. they're the ones who take away our bonuses and pensions ("cost savings") while voting themselves fat raises and six figure bonuses.

nurses pay lipservice to professional responsibility, but we're not really professionals anymore and becoming less and less so. our voices, once heard loud and strong, are being taken away. there's a movement in my unit that nurses should spring out of their chairs and offer it to the big cheese doctor "because he has arthritis" or "because he's older." if it were really about respecting your elders or offering a chair to someone who needs it more than you, the chairs would be offered to elder nurses as well, and those of us who are known to have back, hip or knee issues. maybe even pregnant nurses.

management now feels free to dictate the color and cut of the attire we wear to work and to dictate where and for how much we can purchase it. worse than that, so many young nurses -- the ones who don't remember our struggle to get out of white polyester -- think its a great idea to get back into "the new white" -- whatever color management has dictated they wear. we're shooting ourselves in the foot, giving up what little autonomy we have, and our own numbers are cheering it on because "it's better for the patients" or "it looks so professional.

sympathy strike -- you bet i'd do it. especially in your situation, op. i know some of the managers of some of those institutions facing sympathy strikes. the managers i know were once nurses, but that was long, long ago and far, far away. they think -- and act -- (and wear) suits now.

i don't know your union management, so i cannot speak to whether or not they're in it for nurses or in it for themselves. but i do know that the best jobs i've ever had were in union hospitals and the worst were not.

Naive here. How would the union know whether or not you went to work or not that day? If I weren't on schedule, I'd definetely picket. But if on......this is a spiritual and moral dilemma regarding the lives of humans. It is different than a steel workers type strike. And, does your employer know you are union? If not, will your good-hearted PCP give you a little note that said you had a fever of 103 and you couldn't stop pooping or vomiting? With sulfer burps, after a rare hamburger? Maybe pooping some blood too?

PS. I am sure the hospital will hire agency to fill in. Maybe a longer strike would be in order. But before the strike, make sure all agencies in the area are willing to increase rates to something like 120.00/hr. So then, the hospitals will get it where it hurts, wallet.

Or whatever twice or thrice the regular rate is. That could be 600.00/hr or something. A union could actually make a hospital go bankrupt. And what if the union could take advantage of THAT?

As one of those families I am going to thank you for saying this.

The poster was not implying anything about Nazi or Jews. Its just in relation to this topic and to take it out of context baffles me.Are you guys serious.Several groups of people suffered injustice and ALL THAT IS BEING SAID IS IF YOU STICK TOGETHER ITS BETTER FOR EVERYONE.

We're going to end up going way off here and probably need to reel it in, but the creation of scapegoats and abandonment of the "other" were tangential effects of a policy of eugenics, which was a system that promoted the idea of an ideal race, the creation of which would necessitate the extermination of "sub-groups" of individuals whose existence was deemed to be a detriment to the future of humanity. The worst thing about the holocaust was not just that it stemmed from hatred of the other, but that the engine that drove it was fueled on a cold, calculated sense of expediency.

If you are not willing to support another person's struggle, yes you will also have to pay the consequences and I agree with you 100% in that, which is why I am a union member and support union activities. However, keep in mind that whatever happens in the employment sector, we nurses are not going to be hauled off to the gas chambers in droves until there is no trace of us left on this planet.

So keep your arguments on topic and on track, the only thing you accomplish by playing into this whole Godwin theory is that the people who might agree with you are just going to get ****** off, roll their eyes, and dismiss you as someone who is so devoid of relevant ideas and strategies to defend your ideals, that you have ot go all the way back to the worst and most extreme moment of history to make your point.

End rant and over.

This is very annoying she can make any quotation she chooses and to take it this serious is crazy.Does anyone actually suppose it was a comparison? I think not so to take it personal is going over board

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

The sympathy strike is about supporting our colleages. Kaiser is trying to take away sick pay, pensions, and health insurance for LVNs, CNAs, clerks, medical assistants in clinics, lab workers, opticians, and others.

Yet the CEO was paid $8 million!

They increased co-pays and premiums for their patients.

And they made hundreds of million$ in profits.

But the corporation pays no taxes because they are "not for profit". i think they re-named their profits "excess revenue".

I think we have to support each other against this greed.

Video of the strikes -

Soon after my hospital unionized (2000) I got a lesson about picket lines from an unexpected source. I work in Cardiac Rehab and we have a maintenance program that some patients stay in for years - they become like family. One of our patients had bad lung disease also and had developed a pneumo that just would not reduce. He was in the hospital with a chest tube for weeks. Our bargaining had been going on for almost a year for our first contract. I stopped in to see him one day and he asked me how the bargaining was going ( I was on the team for the nurses). I said it was being pretty hard. He was an old United Mine Workers guy. He said to me: "If you guys strike, someone's going to have to carry me out of here. I've never been on the wrong side of a picket line in my life and I'm not going to start now".

Pretty much sums up my thinking.

And by the way: turns out your union was telling the truth right? No lockout after the one day strike.

Specializes in Sub-Acute/Psychiatric/Detox.

My union sucks because it is not a nursing union. Sure it's better then nothing. They get a a 2% raise then the union raises it's dues by 6.5%... and then non nursing disciplines totally tie up the bargaining. Some union is better then non. I am glad we can't strike... I can't live off of $50 a week.

+ Add a Comment