[ManuelaBeltran]

Hi,
We are a group of nursing students in Canada writing an ethical dilemma paper and we would like to know your opinions on the following issue:

The nurses at a large hospital have been doing negotiation for months but since they haven't obtained any positive results they are deciding to strike for better pay and working conditions. A new graduate nurse is not sure about what to do, or how to vote.

We have learned that in Ontario it is illegal for hospital nurses to strike.
So, our question is: If all or most of the necessary steps to seek negotiation have been taken, to what extent do you think it would be ethical to have an illegal strike? Would the purpose of an illegal strike outweight its consequences?

[lindarn]

Originally Posted by ManuelaBeltran

Hi,
We are a group of nursing students in Canada writing an ethical dilemma paper and we would like to know your opinions on the following issue:

The nurses at a large hospital have been doing negotiation for months but since they haven't obtained any positive results they are deciding to strike for better pay and working conditions. A new graduate nurse is not sure about what to do, or how to vote.

We have learned that in Ontario it is illegal for hospital nurses to strike.
So, our question is: If all or most of the necessary steps to seek negotiation have been taken, to what extent do you think it would be ethical to have an illegal strike? Would the purpose of an illegal strike outweight its consequences?

Is it ethical for nurses to be overworked, made to take care of upwards of 10 patients? Being unable to meet the needs of any of them? Is it ethical for CEOs to make a thousand times what the average nurse is earning? After all, patients go to a hospital to be taken care of, and receive, PROFESSIONAL NURSING CARE, not administrative care. That administrator contributes nothing to positive patient outcomes, unlike nurses.

So why is it that nurses have to fight tooth and nail to receive wages, benefits, and working conditions that make positive patient outcomes. THAT is why it is ethical for nurses to strike if that is their only weapon to achieve wages that reflect that nurses have on positive patient outcomes, reflect the job of patient advocate, that nurses are required to be by the nurse practice act. Also, that wages reflect the negative aspects of the job of RN. The difficulty of the work, the effect of the hours that we work on ourselves, and our families, the risk to us, the list goes on.

No, it is not unethical for nurses to strike.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington