Top 10 Reasons Against Unions

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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 .

How true!

I lived and worked in the UK for a number of years. You can see the remnants of the old union attitude in the UK in the demands of the "Looney Left" - political splinter groups. Some in the US may have seen the early Peter Sellers film, "I'm All Right Jack" a scathing satire of British labor (excuse me, labour) unions. But I digress.

Unions in the US are responsible for the 40 hour work week, paid vacations, sick leave and huge improvements in workplace safety. Yes, unions, especially some public sector unions, have in some cases taken things to excess - you only need to look at what occured at GM for a good private-sector example. But manangement has taken things much further: Outsourcing jobs, legions of lobbyists, obscene executive compensation, the recent looting of the public treasury by banks and financial institutions. I could continue but the point is just as nicurn001 states: Balance.between the groups needs to be restored.

That unfortunately won't happen for a while. At the moment, the pendulum is still im the process of swinging firmly to the right. Big business is in control of the government to a much greater degree than since the "Guilded Age" of the 1890's. This is true in Washington and increasingly in statehouses across the country. Things will change, but not until that pendulum hits its rightward azimuth. This means slow to non-existent wage growth, continued high umemployment, a decline in work place safety standards, increases in pollution, continued deterioration of infrastructure (roads, sewage systems, etc), decreases in corporate taxes and the imposition of hidden taxes on the middle class to make up the gap, and an even greater concentration of wealth (presently significantly higher than the previous high-water mark hit in the late 1920's, just prior to the Great Depression).

In short, things will need to get significantly worse to wake up the average American.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Most non-unionized Americans only see the bad side of union workers, and don't see how supporting unions would help them.

I volunteered at a hospital where the nurses voted to strike. The union and hospital settled before picket lines went up. One of the issues was the nurses getting a 1% pay hike and having to pay for 10% of their health insurance premiums. Most non-union employees hadn't had a raise in years, and paid 50% of their health insurance premiums. Their attitude toward the nurses wasn't "Go nurses!", it was "Why are you complaining?"

Most non-unionized Americans only see the bad side of union workers, and don't see how supporting unions would help them.

I volunteered at a hospital where the nurses voted to strike. The union and hospital settled before picket lines went up. One of the issues was the nurses getting a 1% pay hike and having to pay for 10% of their health insurance premiums. Most non-union employees hadn't had a raise in years, and paid 50% of their health insurance premiums. Their attitude toward the nurses wasn't "Go nurses!", it was "Why are you complaining?"

Unfortunately, the super-rich and those who do their bidding in this country have done a wonderful job of dividing working Americans against each other and distracting them from the people who have really caused the problems. Here's a basic truth: if you are not doing well, if your dollar doesn't buy what it used to, if your job has been sent overseas, if your kids schools are falling apart and you can't see how you'll afford to send them to college, if you are working more and earning less, the culprit is NOT some other workinng person struggling like you are, nor is it any of the people who are even worse off than you are. The place to look for the culprit is among those with money, power and control - and that ain't any of us.

Joke that's making the rounds at the moment: A corporate CEO, a unionized worker and a tea party member are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies. The CEO reaches out and grabs 11 of the cookies. He then turns to the tea party member and says: "Watch that union guy, he's trying to take part of your cookie".

If you want the real story, see who's got all the cookies.

Specializes in CVICU/SICU.

We are actually working toward getting rid of our union. Our RNs are represented by the SEIU 1199P, and have found them to be of VERY little benefit to us. They collect 75.00/month from each of 1300 RNs (do the math) and don't even have a monthly (or even quarterly) union meeting. The staff is extremely aggravated about this, and the SEIU will NOT inform us as to what they do with all of this money, and how the spending of all of this cash has any benefit whatsoever to the 1300 RNs that are "donating" 75.00/month to the union. I wouldn't advise any RN to not go union, as I don't know much about who is organizing your facility. I will advise vigorously against going with the SEIU. They are a joke, and nothing but a political fundraising organization.

We are actually working toward getting rid of our union. Our RNs are represented by the SEIU 1199P, and have found them to be of VERY little benefit to us. They collect 75.00/month from each of 1300 RNs (do the math) and don't even have a monthly (or even quarterly) union meeting. The staff is extremely aggravated about this, and the SEIU will NOT inform us as to what they do with all of this money, and how the spending of all of this cash has any benefit whatsoever to the 1300 RNs that are "donating" 75.00/month to the union. I wouldn't advise any RN to not go union, as I don't know much about who is organizing your facility. I will advise vigorously against going with the SEIU. They are a joke, and nothing but a political fundraising organization.

It's sadly true that not all unions are effective, or democratic or really fight for their members. There are great unions, OK unions, and not so good unions. And, in a really big union like SEIU, even some locals are a lot different than others. Many American unions have made the mistake of believing that the best way to exercise political power is by giving money to politicians who they hope will do good things for them. The trouble with that approach is the bosses and all the various anti-worker forces will always have more money. Here in California, some people like to make a big deal about the unions' spending on politics. But we just had one single candidate for governor spend more money out of her own personal fortune than all the unions in the state put together could possibly hope to spend. And that much money - something like $165 million - was just pocket change to her. The way for unions to exercise political power is the way that mine mostly does, which is by getting members involved in campaigns, and getting them out in the street working for candidates. Of course, that requires that they actually talk to their members, which some unions are not all that comfortable doing. I'd be the first to admit that even we could be better, but we engage our members far better than most. For RNs, I'm a believer that almost all of the nurse-run, all nurse unions are better than most of the multi-industry unions that also represent some RNs.

I've seen and heard directly from plenty of Nurses the phrase- What does the union do for me? They see the real worth of that Union Contract when they are disciplined! Granted sometimes the discipline is appropiate but all too often the Nurse is used as the scape goat for a defect in the hospital administratvie processes and rsather then fix the problem or address the real basis of the situation, it is just easier to discipline and blame the nurse. All too often the level of discipline imposed is based on a personal judgement of the nurse and not the facts!Q A proper investigation and grievance and arbitration process can shed light on this aspect and get the discipline removed or reduced. Often it gets a GOOD NURSE their JOB BACK! :twocents:

I've seen and heard directly from plenty of Nurses the phrase- What does the union do for me? They see the real worth of that Union Contract when they are disciplined! Granted sometimes the discipline is appropiate but all too often the Nurse is used as the scape goat for a defect in the hospital administratvie processes and rsather then fix the problem or address the real basis of the situation, it is just easier to discipline and blame the nurse. All too often the level of discipline imposed is based on a personal judgement of the nurse and not the facts!Q A proper investigation and grievance and arbitration process can shed light on this aspect and get the discipline removed or reduced. Often it gets a GOOD NURSE their JOB BACK! :twocents:

As chief steward at my hospital, I handle a lot of the disciplinary stuff here. I'd freely admit that the majority of nurses who are disciplined have not been perfect. But only a tiny percentage are genuinely "bad" nurses. For those, we have a duty to make sure they get a fair process - which everyone deserves - but we aren't going to try too hard to save their jobs. Most are good nurses who made one stupid mistake. In that case, the role of the union is to make sure that the sanction is proportional to the mistake in light of the nurse's whole record. Often management wants to over-react and we can usually stop that. And then there are those others, the ones that really stick with me and make me proud of what I do.

Case 1: The hospital pharmacy policy was to give a certain dose and concentration of a particular drug. The anesthesiologist was a nationally recognized expert on that drug and wanted to give a different dose. The Pharmacist refused to mix that dose, so the OR nurse did it and administered the drug under the direct supervision of the doctor. The pharmacist complained and the hospital decided to fire the nurse for violating policy. The grievance procedure won her job back with back pay.

Case 2: A nurse of a particular ethnic minority who spoke with a strong accent had a spotless record and a 10 year history of multiple commendations. Then she came under the jurisdiction of a charge nurse with a clear prejudice against people of her ethnicity. The charge nurse managed to find a few patients who shared that prejudice and got them to complain about the nurse, leading to her firing. She didn't want her job back, but ended up with a nice financial settlement, thanks to the union.

Case 3: A PACU nurse was called in to assist with a late case - a trauma surgery. Our hospital recovers those patients in the Trauma ICU, with the PACU nurse assisting as needed - so the patient never goes to the PACU. The PACU nurse had arrived in the unit and was doing some paperwork when she heard the OR doors open and the OR crew starting to move the patient toward the trauma unit. She ran down to help, participated in the transport and assisted with the recovery. But hospital policy was that all critical patients were to be transported to the Unit on a cardiac monitor and the anesthesiologist and circulating nurse had moved the patient out of the OR without the monitor. The manager had it in for the PACU nurse and suspended her for the violation. I filed a grievance and went with the nurse to the meeting with the HR director and OR manager. The OR manager kept going on about what the policy was. I'll always treasure the look on her face when I pointed out that in fact this nurse had never accepted responsibility for the patient and had nothing to do with the violation - if policy had been violated it was the fault of the anesthesiologist or the circulator. The suspension was erased and the nurse paid for the days she had missed.

An interesting sidelight is that the nurses in cases 1 and 3 had voted not to unionize - but were sure glad they had that help when they needed it.

CCL RN, RN

557 Posts

Specializes in Cath Lab/ ICU.

Very nice Chico David!

ctnjason

38 Posts

MGH in Boston is NON union FYI

K+MgSO4, BSN

1,753 Posts

Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Have you guys heard about what the Australian Nurses Federation (Victoria Branch) have done. They are a nursing union that obtained a WORLD FIRST by mandating patient ratios 1:4 in a general acute ward during the day.

In the last 9 months we fought hard and eventually won to protect these ratios and prevent the Bailliu government from introducing unlicensed healthcare assistants in the ratios. Split shifts and redeployment during a shift. Removing the in charge role

Mindful, RN

306 Posts

Specializes in Critical-care RN.

California law AB394 - 1999 is the first law to protect patients and RNs :bow: California RN Staffing Ratio Law

allnurses Guide

herring_RN, ASN, BSN

3,651 Posts

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

The victoria Australia got ratios in their contract. It was an inspiration for california nurses working to get it passed into law.

Both in Victoria and California we had a struggle to keep safe staffing ratios.

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