A CALL FOR A NATIONAL NURSING UNION

Nurses General Nursing

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The time is now. The crises has begun. We have the power. This is the time where we as fellow nurses can fully unite and be not only a tremendous force of change in the working conditions and salaries of health care professionals, but also a powerful reformatory political presence within our own government, with regard to what qualities of caring human beings are entitled to within this country. I call for a National Movement of Zero Tolerance. ZERO TOLERANCE to less than ideal care of human beings, whether they be beings recieving care or giving it. We as Nurses must unite and categorically REJECT base salaries less than 75,000.00 per year, mandatory overtime, patient ratios >2/1 in the ICU's, >4/1 on TELE, and >5/1 on MED/SURG. We must REFUSE vacation time less than 1 month per year. We must REFUSE to be Phlebotomists, R.T.s, EKG techs, etc. while simultaneously having the responsibility of being an RN. We must DEMAND pension plans AND 401k plans (with solid matching). We must DEMAND exceptional differentials and benefits. We are CARING FOR THE LIVES OF SENTIENT BEINGS, not slinging pizzas and burgers. It is time we recognize that the dangerous job we do calls for OUTSTANDING compensation and RESPECT! We must form a NATIONAL UNION!!

As an ANA member who keeps up on what the organization is doing, I disagree with you that it is not addressing the problems of the "bedside" nurse and that it is concerned only with "upper level nursing". I see the ANA out there, involved, and speaking out in all mediums to bring the plight of the direct-care nurse to the forefront and going after Congress to do their part to help the bedside nurse in all parts of this country.

Why do you think the situation has gotten so much attention in the news? It was the strikes of ANA members in NY, MA, and Washington DC that started it. Its the involvement of ANA leaders with elected officials that got the US Senate Hearings started on the issues and got the President to committ to addressing them too. It was the initative of the ANA to have its state associations blitzing their states elected officials all at the same time on these same issues. Its the ANA research and the resulting statistics re: workplace conditions, the nursing shortage, declining quality care, etc. that made the news media sit up & pay attention & its the ANA out there being interviewed about it all by every TV and news journalist from local media to the front page of the NY Times to CNN and keeping the spotlight on the bedside nurse throughout the nation.

I find it interesting that non-members who are not involved & do not know what we are doing in that organization keep parrotting this same mantra. I disagree that nurses should be divided by where they work. ALL nurses should be concerned about the issues affecting each different facet of nursing. Its all intertwined.

As a bedside nurse I am concerned that advanced practice nursing educators are not paid what they are worth either & it has caused a shortage of them. If nursing education programs cannot be expanded because there are not enough educators, then new nurses cannot be recruited because there are not enough seats for them in nursing programs - because there are not enough educators. If there are not enough new nurses coming in, I will be taking care of too many pts, forced to do mandatory OT & work short-staffed because there are not enough nurses.... because there are not enough nursing educators.

So as a bedside nurse, I am also concerned with what is happening to the advanced practice nurses. I do not want to be in an organization that is only for bedside nurses. I may not always be at the bedside. I want to be in an organization that addresses all of nursings issues - and I am.

As far as "fearing" or being opposed to a new organization, I am neither of those. There is a perception that some have about "fear" of a new organization, but believe me, no one is "fearing" the creation of any other group. Its your choice to choose whichever group you want to belong to. There can be a million different groups and it wont stop mine from carrying on the work we want to do while the others do what they want to do. To each his own.

If you prefer to distance yourself from the rest of the nursing world because you work at the bedside, thats your choice to make. I make a different choice.

a nurse educator may not be directly at risk for these things in the classroom but what about in clinical? and what about for her students? Nurse educators certainly are faced with those things. Nurses in all facets of nursing should be concerned with what each other is facing.

FYI..... it was the ANA that led the fight to get national legislation passed to protect all healthcare workers (not just bedside nurses) & obtained the new Needlestick Prevention laws that all facilities must now compy with. Other organziations that represent nurses worked with the ANA to get this law passed. And yes ANA represents nurse educators - it also is fighting in Congress to pass staffing ratio guidelines, as well as Whistleblower protection and a zero-tolerance ban on mandatory OT - all of which probably dont affect nurse educators directly either.

So what is your point?

Wildtime,

I imagine this new group will have some possibilities. There is a listserve group that is very involved with the aspirations for this new nursing alliance. You should check it out.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnionTalk

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