[brian]

Pittsburgh, PA
Registered nurses at Allegheny General Hospital last night authorized their negotiating committee to send a 10-day strike notice to management.

More than 90 percent of the nearly 1,300 nurses represented by the Nurse Alliance of PA voted to approve the measure. The current contract expires next Friday. Nurse Alliance PA is affiliated with Local 1199P of the Service Employees International Union.

Bargaining sessions are scheduled for today

see more info and news video clip here:
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_279071801.html

[danh3190]

With the rapid UPMC expansion in the area and AGH-WP the only real counterweight I don't know if I'd be willing to do anything to hobble AGH.

[pghfoxfan]

I do not agree with nurses striking.

The union takes 10% of your pay at AGH. Drop the union and you will automatically make 10% more. I know from personal experience that this union protects the bad nurses. Nurses that dont deserve to keep their jobs...but, heck, they are protected by the "union". I have watched nurses get away with doing the bare minimum while their peers bust their butts, but ya cant do anything about it, because they are protected by the union.
I have personal experience where nurses/the union tried to get "blood from a stone", wanting more and more pay from a hospital that was just trying to keep afloat.

[oneLoneNurse]

I strongly disagree. I have been a nurse since 1984. I have worked in non union shops and union shops. At present I happen to work in a union shop. This large university hospital would pay us the minimum if they could get away with it. Without the union they could get away with it. The union has lots of faults, BUT at the end of the day I for one am happy that it negotiates for me when it comes to wages and benefits. The hospital would have me for breakfast. I do not know where you are and do not know the union at AGH. I doubt whether union dues consists of 10% of one's wages.

Even in a non nursing hospital some nurses will get away with doing nothing. I worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital where there was no union. People will get away with lazziness if they can or do not have a good work ethic. This to me is not necessarily a union problem.

Knowing the situation in Pittsburgh some I do not envy AGH's position in the burg. UPMC is becoming a monopoly it seems.

Nurses need to stand up to management to meet their wage demands. We are the largest group of hospital workers, yet our voices are not heard. WE need to support our Unions to make our voices and opinions be heard. If we would stick together, there would be no stopping us.

Originally Posted by pghfoxfan

I do not agree with nurses striking.

The union takes 10% of your pay at AGH. Drop the union and you will automatically make 10% more. I know from personal experience that this union protects the bad nurses. Nurses that dont deserve to keep their jobs...but, heck, they are protected by the "union". I have watched nurses get away with doing the bare minimum while their peers bust their butts, but ya cant do anything about it, because they are protected by the union.
I have personal experience where nurses/the union tried to get "blood from a stone", wanting more and more pay from a hospital that was just trying to keep afloat.

[Only one nurse]

I would like to respond as from a non union and union perspective. I am an RN with MSN credentials. I did not belong to our local union as I thought my 30 years of an unblemished record (as evidenced by perfect attendence in >20 years, serving on various hospital committees, and EXCELLENT and OUTSTANDING ratings on the annual employee review) would not expose me to any negative actions from my supervisors. However, I became the victim of a system error the error I had brought to management's attention for the past 8 years. No harm was done to any staff or patient, it was simply a system error that management realized they had not corrected. Their solution was to subject me to disciplinary action with termination being the end. As the grievance process proceeded, I was removed from my dayshift, Monday-Friday schedule. I was also removed from my position, an exciting job that required critical thinking. I was reassigned to a floor where I functioned as an entry level nurse working all shifts, weekends, and holidays. I sought and received exceptional help and an attorney from the union, even though I was not a member until we went into arbritration. I am extremely grateful that I worked in a hospital where the union was present. I had many collegues that came out of the woodwork to help with this painful event. Unsolicited, they provided character validation and the documentation of where I reported the system error. So to say that the union only protects non productive employees was not my situation. I was vindicated by an arbritrator, outside the system. I was reinstated to my positon and schedule. The union financed the entire process. I am now am ethically bound to help others similarly situated. I hope by posting this I am helping someone, somewhere. My unblemished record still stands thanks to the union.

[DebbieSue]

I completely disagree with Pghfoxfan. I also work at said institution, and the bargaining unit's efforts to keep our health insurance premiums capped have more than made up for union dues. Our contract negotiation achieved every RN an immidiate 1.25/hr raise accross the board, among many other things. In fact, the fact that we are the only unionized large hospital in the city has resulted in step-ups in pay for even the non-unionized hospitals, since the admins of those hospitals are desparately trying to keep the unions out, so whenever we sign a contract, other hospitals take note and make sure that their nurses get what we bargained so hard and long for. Go figure.

A union doesn't "protect" 'bad' nurses. That's bull sh*t. Our unionization has not created a 'lazy nurse' subclass. That's just not the way it works. We have had nurses reinstated after winning a grievance over being unjustly terminated. We have had nurses canned, despite the union.

There is so much myth out there about nurses and collective bargaining.

[ortess1971]

I worked at AGH when I lived in Pittsburgh 9 years ago(as a tech). They were just starting talks about unions and we would actually have meetings where administration would come and try to talk people out of unionizing. IMHO, that place NEEDED a union. Their orientation process was a joke.. and supervisors and administration basically could do whatever they wanted to you with no consequences. Why shouldn't *****s strike? I never claimed to be a martyr or a saint..If my workplace is treating me like crap, then I should have the option to call them on it. Unions are by no means perfect but it's good to know someone has your back.

[JBudd]

long distance support from a fellow 1199 member
God bless and good luck

[Altra]

I would have thought this would have been posted by now, but I don't see anything so I thought I'd add the update ... new contract was ratified, strike was averted.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06287/730040-53.stm

[pickledpepperRN]

All this without a strike!

...The contract implements minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for virtually all hospital units, eliminates mandatory overtime except in extreme circumstances and raises wages an average of 15.3 percent over the next three years, said Neal Bisno, secretary-treasurer of SEIU District 1199P....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06287/730040-53.stm