Unionized vs Non Unionized hospitals

Nurses Union

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Which is better to work for overall and why? Are pay, benefits, and respect better with the union hospitals?

Has anyone read about the SEIU in Michigan and Home Healthcare Workers? Perfectly illustrates a major reason I hate unions.

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
Has anyone read about the SEIU in Michigan and Home Healthcare Workers? Perfectly illustrates a major reason I hate unions.

[h=1]SEIU membership, revenues plummet after state ends 'underhanded scheme'[/h]

A Michigan branch of the powerful Service Employees International Union saw its membership and revenues plummet after the reversal of a measure that forced caregivers tending to friends or relatives to be members with their dues paid by those they cared for.

More than 44,000 home-based healthcare workers parted ways with SEIU Healthcare Michigan after learning they did not have to join the union or pay dues, according to reports the union filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Has anyone read about the SEIU in Michigan and Home Healthcare Workers? Perfectly illustrates a major reason I hate unions.

I got bit by a dog one time. I don't hate all dogs now.

I got bit by a dog one time. I don't hate all dogs now.

God forbid anyone come out on this forum against unions. It seems far too many of you are of the liberal/progressive mindset.

Specializes in Critical-care RN.

... Stop Unions is site for you

God forbid anyone come out on this forum against unions. It seems far too many of you are of the liberal/progressive mindset.

How is what PMFB said liberal in any way? They simply just said that they don't hate all unions because there happens to be some bad ones. Sounds logical to me.

I work in North Dakota where there are no unions for nurses and I don't know if the two hospitals in town would allow that. But I live in Minnesota where nurses in smaller hospitals are unionized and it's embarrassing. I know a former coworker got a job in Brainerd, which has a small hospital, but it's unionized and the pay is higher than what nurses get in North Dakota. I want to move to the Twin Cities eventually, but I like my current job now.[/quote']

i looked into North Dakota, it is very sad what nurses get paid there. I think fast food workers in the oil boom towns make almost as much as the nurses. Good luck, the Twin Cities is a great place to live!

They say nurses eat their young. Well they don't. Sociopaths do. That's 4 to 5% of the general population. I seem to attract attacks by them. Virginia is what I like to re-label a Right to Get Fired state. That's what happened. How it happened was because I didn't understand how they work. Two outright lying witnesses against one.

Then after over a year out of work, I finally got on with the VA. The Federal government carries its unions with it, so I was automatically represented, whether I paid dues or not (I chose to pay, probably more than usual because paying is totally optional, $17 per biweekly pay period).

I was attacked again, brought to a meeting and not told the agenda, same method, two outright lying witnesses. Then I remembered my union training. It was a simple single Powerpoint slide about my right to union representation in any meeting where I felt it might lead to disciplinary action or a change in my work conditions. I claimed my rights. They denied them. Now it is they who are sweating.

See, what it all boils down to is simple math. As a RN who can't afford even one lawyer, working for a corporation with a giant permanent legal staff that can take a little time to focus on little old me, plus no union representation, I'm going to lose any dispute.

But with a union behind me with its own legal staff and a contract that spells out the responsibilities of both parties, things even out enough that the truth can prevail. That's all I ask for. If I do wrong, yeah, fire me, I deserve it. But if a group of people gratuitously attacks me in my workplace when I'm doing a great job and tries to take my livelihood from me for giggles, let 'em burn.

Yeah, I did have a chance eyewitness, but I did the other time, too. Same locality. Same situation. Same kinds of people. The union was the only difference. I'm a working stiff with three schoolkids to feed, so I need the little bit of parity my union brings to the table.

Beggin' your pardon, my compatriots who favor the theory of a pure free market, but I'm a living example of why theory should reflect the impurity of the real world. Are you not free to select an agent in other areas of life? I recommend you exercise that freedom where it counts most, in your work life.

How is what PMFB said liberal in any way? They simply just said that they don't hate all unions because there happens to be some bad ones. Sounds logical to me.

Yes, on the surface it seems logical, however i'm willing to bet more than simple logic was intended. It was a snarky comment, admit it.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Yes, on the surface it seems logical, however i'm willing to bet more than simple logic was intended. It was a snarky comment, admit it.

It was a logical reply to an illogical message. When one tries to paint all with the brush of the actions of a few, such comments from those who engage in critical thinking is to be expected.

I am no liberal BTW.

Yes, on the surface it seems logical, however i'm willing to bet more than simple logic was intended. It was a snarky comment, admit it.

No, not just on the surface, it is logical. Do you hate every patient because of one that was horrible? You are the one who is adding something that wasn't said, and that is solely on you and your blanket assumptions about people. Whether PMFB is liberal or not, you don't know them and they didn't say anything "liberal". You were looking for someone to pick an argument with plain and simple.

No, not just on the surface, it is logical. Do you hate every patient because of one that was horrible? You are the one who is adding something that wasn't said, and that is solely on you and your blanket assumptions about people. Whether PMFB is liberal or not, you don't know them and they didn't say anything "liberal". You were looking for someone to pick an argument with plain and simple.

No I wasn't looking for an argument, I admit I did read more into PMFB-RN's post than what was intended. I did not like the comment that was made and became defensive, I apologise. The reason I did not like the comment was that I felt PMFB-RN had not read my earlier post about my love/hate relationship with the union. My comment on the Michigan SEIU story was to give an example of what I see as a negative aspect of unions. That negative aspect being in the political influence a union can have. If I understand the story correctly, a law had been passed that forced people who stayed home to care for loved ones to pay union dues, which came out of their loved one's benefits. I perceive, and maybe I'm wrong, that in nursing there is a definite leaning toward the left of the political spectrum. My observation has been that with the liberal mindset in general comes a view that unions are nothing but good. In an earlier post I pointed out the need for a union, at least in nursing, my comment on the Michigan SEIU was more of a follow up to my earlier post.

I admit to making generalities and realize the pitfalls of such thinking. However it comes as a nescessary way of understanding and organizing the world when it comes to politics. It would be nice if the world ran differently with each persons individualality recognised and catered to but think of the difficulty in passing laws and determining policy if this were the case. Nothing would get done.

I hope I've cleared things up. :nailbiting:

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