Descrimination: A full hot meal or soup and a sandwich

Re - Canadaian/Australian unions/rights - I agree that it seems there is a huge difference in how these two country's unions function in support of their members. My guess would be American unions and their leaders suffer the same fat-cat mentality that most capitalist 'businesses' do and there are much less demands made by American nurses. Again, correct me if I am wrong - but you pay to be a member of a union that represents YOUR nursing employment issues - or is it just for the privilege of tagging along while the union determines what is of interest to them?

For the rest of us, we can't just walk off the floor. Somehow I don't even think the union nurses with "great" environments would appreciate the whistle blowing while they were having an MI! "Oh too bad, got to get my cup of Joe....do you think you can hang for 15?"

Dedication doesn’t pay the rent!
The 1986 Victorian nurses’ strike

LIZ ROSS
This chapter is based on my own direct involvement with the strike. An earlier version appeared as ‘Sisters are Doing It for Themselves ... and Us’, Hecate, vol XIII (1) 1987, later reprinted as a pamphlet, Dedication Doesn’t Pay the Rent!, Socialist Action, 1987.
Nurses are often seen as the archetypal ‘handmaidens’ of men. Yet if there was ever an experience that demolished this image, it was the Victorian nurses’ strike of 1986, in which a predominantly female workforce took on and defeated the State Labor government.
Nurses’ militancy stemmed from two different kinds of experiences. The first was of working within the system, taking part in government reviews, lobbying and having high level meetings with the health minister ¾ and getting nowhere. Hospital waiting lists in Victoria reached 27,000 before the strike, and the Cain Labor government had cut the health budget, in real terms, every year since 1982-83. The toll on nurses was disastrous: they topped the 1986 compensation claims. 10,000 left nursing in 1985, and a further 8000 did not renew their practicing certificates, leaving the State with a shortfall of about 14,000 nurses.
The second, over the decade or so before the strike, was of going outside the system, taking direct action.

Victorian nurses strike for fifty days in response to lack of action by the government in securing their award conditions. It is the longest strike by women in Australia since the nineteenth-century Tailoresses' strike. Threatened with dismissal, criminal charges, the use of the Essential Services Act, and even police action to disrupt picket lines, the nurses remain on strike and achieve "career structure" reforms.

Many CNAs don't feel valued often. Their's is a low paid job with little respect for what they do. LPNs sometimes feel that way as well. Although it is indeed a 'little thing' in comparison, it is often the sum total of 'little things' that lead you to feel a valued member of your organization. Think how often a simple acknowledgement from a patient or management makes a difference in your day. I wouldn't be surprised if this slight no matter how small, leads to staff turnover. I think that if they are smart, they will either offer to change the times for lunch, return to their previous menu, or yes- only offer a 'soup and sandwich' plan for everybody. My .

I understand the sentiment - and I am equally aggravated that the only consequence of nurses taking action seems to be patients suffer. But that didn't stop the Victorian nurses in Australia back in 1986...

http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/in...men/nurses.htm

http://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE1530b.htm

Btw, my job doesn't allow us to bring in outside food and deducts a few dollars per week from our paychecks for a hot meal.