Top 10 Reasons Against Unions

[PICUPNP]

Top ten reasons why we don't want a union

10. the union doesn't write my paycheck.

9. unions would rather cause problems than work together.

8. union scale means the best workers are carrying the worst.

7. the people who want a union really need one.

6. too corrupt.

5. too political, too liberal and too partisan.

4. unions are only about power and money for the ones who run the union.

3. unions are negative about everything but how great they are.

2. I like to work steady.

1. I've got too much self respect.

[HazelLPN, LPN]

Yes, the teachers have it pretty good until they bankrupt their city and state with their lavish and unsustainable salaries and benefits, as we are now seeing across the nation with public employee unions.

Teachers and school nurses work HARD, are highly educated (many with MSN and MEd degrees) and do not get lavish salaries. Compare their middle class wages with the bankers and ceos who are responsible for the current economic conditions...they are the ones who get lavish wages. The teachers and school nurses are willing to give up raises, but NOT to give up their power to bargain collectively and take ownership in what they do. Middle class workers don't bankrupt tax payers...blame wallstreet and corporate greed for that one.

[lindarn]

Teachers have the pay, benefits, and workplace control, because they unionized from the get go. They have a unified entry into practice, receive extra pay as they advance their education, unlike nurses.

Nurses complain, **** and moan, but when it comes to working to making posive changes in the workplace, and the profession, they all bug out. They deny that they were not happy with their workplace, pay, benefits, etc. Trying to get nurses to join together to make change, is like trying to nail jello to the wall.

The changes have to start in nursing school, where these attitudes start. They have to be reinforced, by the nursing instructors, have to debate the pros and cons, and an honest discussion about how unions have helped the average joe blow, the positive changes they make, the protection they offer for ALL nurses.

You cannot have a workplace that you can make change in, if you care afraid to speak out for fear for your job. Teachers unionized initially, to ensure that they will always have the academic freedom to teach.

Why do nurses not have the freedom to advocate for our patients? We are legally and ethically required to report unsafe patient care situations, and staffing. Is it preferable to try to ignore these staffing nightmares situations? And put our licenses in jeapardy?

Nurses have alot to learn from teachers. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN ,CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[FlyingScot, RN]

Teachers unions are now under attack in places like Wisconsin and Ohio

It's not just teachers' unions here in Ohio. It's EVERY public employee. I work in a state institution so this WILL affect nursing. I'd like to know where my "lavish" lifestyle is hiding. I pay into the retirement system just like I paid into social security. I pay healthcare premiums that are just as expensive as when I worked in the private sector. I make a decent salary but I'm no where near getting rich. Our union contracts guarantees safe staffing ratios and safe mandation. We gave up our cost of living raises in our last negotiation. Union workers are being demonized as rich slackers being carried on the backs of taxpayers Last time I checked I AM a taxpayer.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

It's not just teachers' unions here in Ohio. It's EVERY public employee. I work in a state institution so this WILL affect nursing. I'd like to know where my "lavish" lifestyle is hiding. I pay into the retirement system just like I paid into social security. I pay healthcare premiums that are just as expensive as when I worked in the private sector. I make a decent salary but I'm no where near getting rich. Our union contracts guarantees safe staffing ratios and safe mandation. We gave up our cost of living raises in our last negotiation. Union workers are being demonized as rich slackers being carried on the backs of taxpayers Last time I checked I AM a taxpayer.

This is a classic divide and conquer maneuver by the ultra-rich and politicians of both parties who serve them. First you take away something from one group of workers (a lot of private sector workers used to have decent pensions). Then you say to those workers "Look at those people over there - they have something you don't. Is that fair? shouldn't we take it away from them too?"

The biggest lie of American politics - perpetuated par excellence by its greatest liar, Reagan, is that if you aren't doing well - if your paycheck doesn't buy what it used to, if you are losing your house, if you can't send your kid to college - you should blame those who have even less than you do - "welfare queens", immigrants, etc. Now the target du jour is state workers. And after they strip their benefits and pensions away, who will be left who look too well off? Nurses, that's who. Just in the last few weeks we are starting to see the first articles blaming the high cost of health care on nurses high salaries. Once they finish with state workers, we are next. Which ought to give all of us an important incentive to defend state workers.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

We do have a national union- National Nurses United, an offshoot of the California Nurses Association. They are organizing in very anti union states, and have made great strides. And yes, I have been saying for years, that nurses need to unite at the National Level, to be able to sit with the big boys, and talk turkey!

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN,BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

As you say it is coming. One small correction though: NNU is rather more than an offshoot of CNA. CNA was a one-state union until 2004 when we decided to go national and created NNOC -National Nurses Organizing Committee for our work outside California. As NNOC, we now have collective bargaining units organized in Maine, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Texas, Missouri - maybe more, but that's all I can remember. Then a couple of years ago we joined together with the Massachusetts Nurses Assn. and what was basically the remnant of the UAN to form NNU. So we are the largest, and some might say dominant, partner in NNU, but there are other states who are important partners in that.

[CCL RN, RN]

So you're saying I should unionize just because of the possibility of those things happening? I don't know that I would subject myself to a union on the whim that my employer may do something to me. RTW doesn't necessarily = Bad Work environment. My wife is also a nurse and has never had the issues at work that you describe, but this isn't to say it doesn't happen. I can see some benefits to unionized nursing but I wouldn't be able to ethically or morally support a strike of any nature, here there or anywhere......

I live in a right to work state too. For the past 3 years we've received no raises, NO raises. In this economy I don't expect to see one next year either. And our health benefit costs skyrocketed by a few hundred buckes a month, and covered a lot less. A recent ER visit had a $250 copay!!

My dental coverage costs tripled, and my eye benefits were cut totally.

Additionally, our management has singled out a few nurses who have brought up staffing issues, or safety issues. Now they are being written up for every living thing. But hey, there are a slew of new grads waiting for our soon-to-be open positions.

God, how I wish for a union...

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I lived in Massachusetts for 30 years. Municipal jobs, especially unionized positions, are pure patronage there, and everyone knows it.

In many towns, teachers, cops, and fire fighters are the highest-paid municipal employees. Six-figure pensions are the rule, not the exception, especially for cops and fire fighters. Boston had a huge scandal involving fire fighters getting injured while covering for their spervisors, which gets them a tax-free "disability pension" at the higher supervisor's rate. An alarming number of firefighters received career-ending disabilities while moving shelves on days they were filling in for their supervisors.

The unions are under fire, and a lot of them brought it on themselves.

[lindarn]

I lived in Massachusetts for 30 years. Municipal jobs, especially unionized positions, are pure patronage there, and everyone knows it.

In many towns, teachers, cops, and fire fighters are the highest-paid municipal employees. Six-figure pensions are the rule, not the exception, especially for cops and fire fighters. Boston had a huge scandal involving fire fighters getting injured while covering for their spervisors, which gets them a tax-free "disability pension" at the higher supervisor's rate. An alarming number of firefighters received career-ending disabilities while moving shelves on days they were filling in for their supervisors.

The unions are under fire, and a lot of them brought it on themselves.

But where would we be, if we didn't have unions, to "equalize things out". There would be no one on the side of the little guy. Just look at the South, with there, "no unions or death". You only have to read the threads on this listserve, to see what nurses have to put up with, who work in these states.

I also believe, that if the big hospitals in Boston had unionized in the 1990's, where the beginnings of the, "care redesign" began, we would not be in the horrendous staffing situations that we are today. The nurses from Beth Israel, and Mass General, were the "ground zero" for this pox on healthcare. When the hospitals there won this nonsense without a challenge like unionizing en masse by the nursing staff, it was a "green light" for the rest of the country.

These hospitals were some of the best in the country with staffing, nurse satisfactione, etc. And it all went to hell in a handbasket in a matter of months. Those nurses had the opportunity to unionize, there were elections, but lost due to the "martyr marys" who didn't want to unionize, because it was, "unprofessional".

Now they are all, "professional", with lousy working conditions, pay, benefits,etc. Who really won?

The moral of the story is, yes, there are some unions who have taken advantage the ability to bargain, and "use" the system. But lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater!

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[nicurn001]

I was brought up in the UK when / where unions had real power , it was not a good thing ,I now live and work in the US where management has almost all the power , that is not a good thing .

Industrial relations are best when there is a equitable balance of power between labor and management , when one side of that equation is dominant , they tend to abuse that power .

For any enterprise to suceed it needs both sides to freely feel they are gaining benefit from their efforts .

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I also believe, that if the big hospitals in Boston had unionized in the 1990's, where the beginnings of the, "care redesign" began, we would not be in the horrendous staffing situations that we are today. The nurses from Beth Israel, and Mass General, were the "ground zero" for this pox on healthcare. When the hospitals there won this nonsense without a challenge like unionizing en masse by the nursing staff, it was a "green light" for the rest of the country.

These hospitals were some of the best in the country with staffing, nurse satisfaction, etc. And it all went to hell in a handbasket in a matter of months. Those nurses had the opportunity to unionize, there were elections, but lost due to the "martyr marys" who didn't want to unionize, because it was, "unprofessional".

Now they are all, "professional", with lousy working conditions, pay, benefits,etc. Who really won?

The big hospitals in Boston (Beth Israel, Mass General, Brigham and Women's, and New England Baptist) are all unionized. The Brigham almost went on strike a few years ago.

[lindarn]

The big hospitals in Boston (Beth Israel, Mass General, Brigham and Women's, and New England Baptist) are all unionized. The Brigham almost went on strike a few years ago.

That wasn't the case 20 years ago. They rejected unionizing repeatedly even though their workplace was crashing down around them. The story is documented in the books written by Suzanne Gordon. Read it and weep!

I am glad that they finally came to their senses, but at what cost to the nation, and nursing profession?

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[Thorina]

Who the hell wrote reasons against unions in nursing, hospital administrations??? Sounds like it to me!!