Just heard on channel five, Boston. Nurses at one of Boston's biggest hospital, have just voted to authorized a one day strike. Over 70% of the nurses who voted have decided that Tufts Medical Center has a patient care problem and they are willing to go on strike to fix it. 1100 nurses could, walk away from bedside. Their union only has one issue, to force the hospital to increase nurse patient ratio and to create mandatory staffing. Something the CEO has vowed will not happen. Nurses say patient care has suffered because there are too few of them to help. One nurse said, " I am done explaining to a patient why, when the call bell rings nobody comes" and "why they are lying in wet sheets". Tufts is calling this gross hyperbole. Tufts has been reducing cost hiring less expensive techs instead of more nurses for certain bedside jobs. Tufts insist they are ranked 6, in hospital safety in the country. Nurses say hospital officials are exaggerating. Nurses want the right staff at the right time to care for what patients need. Nurses say, this is their fight! Tufts is now searching for nurses all over the country to staff the hospital for the one day strike.
Would any of you cross this picket line? Do you think the nurses are doing the right thing and why?