Re: Why no union! Without Nurses the hospital can't run! Originally Posted by gospel 
Don't take me the wrong way when I ask this question. I will be graduating in 08 and there are several things I question about nursing. I have seen who truly runs the hospitals in which truly I believe to be Nurses. Take the nurses out of the hospital and they will have to close. Why is it that nurses do not have strong unions that stand behind them or why is it that nurses choose not to have unions? For instance I have a friend who works for a Union as a electrician and when he decides to take a job he is protected by that union. If he is being treated bad they will back him and the men 100%. It is just so hard for me to grasp that nurses who possess such power and are so vital to hospitals would have to put up with administration the way many of you have had to do. Educate me on this! I truly do not understand this. I mean honestly, I do not think a Dr. or pharmicist can do the job nurses do and yet they are treated with roses. Just trying to understand!
Nurses do not "choose" to not have Unions. Unions are a very, very difficult thing to organize, and you can blame the heads of corporations that own the hospitals and your state legislatures for making it easier and easier for any company (medical or not), to do everything it can to discourage workers from getting a union started.
Hospitals are companies, some are private, some are public, but at the end of the day, they are still companies and like any company they require employees in order to run it. More and more states are going toward being an "employment at will" state. That means and employer can fire you at any time for any reason and does not owe anyone, including the state, an explanation for it....unless the EMPLOYEE can prove discrimination...which I can assure you they will be working up a case against anyone they want to get rid of....whether sex, race, age, sexual orientation, handicap, nation origin, pregnancy, is at the root cause of wanting the employee gone.
Never think for a second that employers don't discriminate...because they do.
It is against he law for companies to fire an employee for starting a union, inquiring about unionizing, or if one is started, signing a union membership card to sign up. The problem with getting a union started in a hospital, is that they will find a way to get rid of an employee before the union ever gets off the ground. Get rid of the source of the "infection" and the disease (ie. unions), are gone.
There was a Wal-mart store that tried to unionize, and was very, very close it finishing the process....Wal-mart could not legally get rid of the employees because the process had gone too far under their nose. What did they do....THEY CLOSE THE STORE AND SHUT IT DOWN...That...is 100% legal to do...that is how far a company will go to not unionize.
Have you ever noticed that you never hear about Coca Cola, Starbucks, Pepsi, or other companies like this trying to unionize? Want to know why? Because they are consistently among the top companies to work for...tops in employee treatment, tops in benefits, tops in retirement...when you treat your employees well, there is no reason for a union...unions were put into place because employers were abusing employees, not because companies voluntarily choose to treat employees well.
If you read on the history of unions...pick any industry, in the end, it all works the same....you will discover that our culture is getting away from unions...and some employers are even showing anti-union videos during employee orientation...that is to send a clear message that they are against it.
To anyone that is against unions, if you think child labor is wrong, if you like to get paid overtime, if you like your vacation, your work week, if you like having a safe place to work with heat and air conditioning, and health benefits...never think for a second that your employer, back in "the day" gave these benefits out of love for employees....they didn't have a choice but to give them to you and would take them away tomorrow if it was legal to.
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? )...the purpose of the dues is to continue benefits and to pay a wage in the event of a strike.
