I recently was offered a position at a union hospital on a pediatric unit. I initially worked in pediatrics at a large teaching hospital for nearly 2 years, then I moved to an adult research nurse position for 7 months (where I learned a ton, but wasn't happy), and then went to pediatric research where I have been for the last 2+ years. We are now relocating, which is my only reason for changing jobs.

In my offer for this new pediatric position, they are basing my pay off of 2 years of experience. They claim that they round down, so I'm guessing that they are only looking at my most recent job, and considering my 7 months in adults a 'break' in my relevant experience (otherwise I'd be 4 years total). I learned A LOT in the adult position that I would definitely consider applicable to all realms of nursing. In addition, the job I applied for requires float to adult med-surg floors.

Has anyone else had this issue with union hospitals not giving full credit for prior experience as an RN? Any tips for negotiating my years of "directly relevant experience"?

It's one of the few times they can negotiate, but it helps to know your negotiation position. It doesn't hurt to ask respectfully; they can merely say, "No." If they really want you they might just agree.However, if there is a busload of qualified people ready to take your position, they may just pass on you.

When it comes to anything other than FT work, unions have a variety of formulas for computing what your experience level is.

For example, in my facility, PT and PRN get their years of experience determined based on how many hours a year they worked. If they worked 2000 or more hours that year, it's considered a year of experience. But if they worked only 1000 last year, they would get credited with only 1/2 year of experience. And partial years of experience are usually rounded DOWN, so someone with 6.5 years of experience is going to be at the 6-year experience rung on the pay ladder.

Plus, there's also the matter of what they consider experience. Pediatric research, while related to pediatrics, isn't necessarily the same as pediatric acute care nursing. Same for the adult research experience. So you may very well have only 2 years of acute care nursing experience in their eyes.

You can always ask the union about it--after all, the worst they can tell you is "No." But as the previous poster stated, if you keep pressing the issue too much and they have other candidates who are ready and willing to start work yesterday under those same terms, you may find yourself out of a job offer.

Best of luck.