nurses united ?

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Originally posted by -jt

There are a lot of erroneous misconceptions about the ANA among those not involved - like the mistaken notion that it wants to take away licenses.

Another misconception is that we dont need laws to protect our practice & our licenses, & we dont need to be the ones writing them, and that to avoid mandatory ot, all we have to do is not work in a hospital that utilizes it. In case anyone hasnt noticed, almost EVERY hospital in the country is utilizing mandatory OT - its all over the news.

Oh? It doesn't want to eliminate the diploma and ADN nurses? When did the position it's held for decades change?

No, it is not true that almost every hospital in the country is using mandatory OT. I don't believe everything that's on the news. I am aware of *two* hospitals in my state that use mandatory overtime, both small facilities. There may be more, but I haven't heard about them. And yes, it takes *individuals* standing up for what is right by refusing to accept those terms.

I will ask again--what did the ANA do all these years to prevent any of this from happening? As we all know as nurses, it's a lot easier to prevent a disease than it is to cure it. They're too little, too late. If you want to join, that's certainly your privilege and your prerogative. But I don't like it when those who are members look down upon those who are not as if we're getting some sort of free ride.

fedupnurse

790 Posts

-jt, I had to tell you this but the motivating force beg=hind that mandatory OT ban bill was the LABOR UNIONS. The state ANA joined in but it was the Unions that got that ball rolling. I do agree they are a great lobbying group but, again, between my union dues and lack of denecent salary increases the amount to join the state and national is just a bit to steep at this point. I would assume the various state branches are made up of different demographics. New Jersey's in very heavily ladened with suits and NP's. Maybe if every single staff nurse joined...I don't know if it would make a difference or not.

Our union (not thru the ANA) also has lobbying groups specifically aimed at healthcare issues. They are very active and I do what I can to contribute to that.

grneturtle

17 Posts

OK I work in california

I have been an RN for 8years

Have yet to be approached by a Union or any other nursing organization, except to apply for insurance to cover malpractice,book clubs and companys selling ceu courses.

What my question is the arguments for staff vs pt ratio, how is this going to help snf's where nurses are routinely caring for 20 to sometimes 50 pts, passing meds, tx's etc!

I have yet to see any changes in this area, also I think nursing pay has to relate to experience and economic area in which we live, no until nurses get together in someway and regard ourselves has proffessionals and not a labor force not much will change. Enjoyed reading all your comments has been an education.

Grace Oz

1,294 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surg/Ortho/HH/Radiology-Now Retired.

I'm a member of the Australian Nursing Federation

and wouldn't practise nursing without being in it.

The ANF is our nurses union in this country. Without it, we wouldn't enjoy the conditions & benefits we currently have. I've been a dedicated "reader" of AllNurses for some months now & am SO saddened at what I've come to see is your working conditions over there in the USA. If I've understood the posts correctly, it appears that the "suits" as you call them, really call all the shots in the running & management of your hospitals. It seems to me that the nurses at the "coalface" have little or no say in anything much.

I'm astounded at how the hospitals are allowed to dictate your conditions of employment as they seem to do, without any consultation with the very people ( nurses) it employs. This is where being united as one voice, one force, will serve you all in a powerful way.Our union fees over here in Aust. depends on how many hours you work each week,

ie: I'm only working casually with the agency now, so I pay AUS$160-170 annually. Sorry, don't know the exchange rate. I've been nursing for 34 years & have witnessed a lot of changes, challenges & accomplishments. I know for sure, that without the union, we'd not have achieved what we have in this country. For example, most full-time nurses working in a hospital here, work an average of 8 hours a shift, 5 days a week, with 4 weeks PAID annual leave a year ( some facilities provide 6 weeks!) plus employer contributions to a superannuation scheme of 8% of your wages, leave loading of 17% ( of your wage)when you take your annual leave,10 days paid sick leave a year which you can accumulate ( I know one friend had four months sick leave accrued & when needed for an illness, she was fully paid whilst off work for the 3 1/2 months)We get uniform allowances, shoe allowances as part of our paid income. There are probably more but I can't think of them at present. None of this would have been possible without the unions fighting for our pay & conditions. Most health care facilities here in Aust have a worksite rep who keeps staff informed & updated with union news etc. We've gone on strike on many occasions in order to fight for our entitlements & working conditions,( NEVER at the expense of the patients though!)Without the union going into bat for us, there's NO way we'd have the things we have today in Australia.

Unfortunately, as is the way here ( and this is not intended as an insult to anyone!) the powers that be ( & others) tend to follow the American model on many things & this is now becoming evident in our health industry. We are stongly opposed to any changes that will lead us down the path that you folks have been / are on.

I can only encourage you to join your unions, empower yourselves with knowledge & information, become active & involved. It's only by being united & standing together, that you will bring about changes for the better, not only for yourselves now, but the future generations of nurses who will follow. We owe it to them as much as ourselves.

Enough from from "Mother" from Down under for now! :-) ...

Cheers.

Grace.

RNforLongTime

1,577 Posts

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

I am a member of the Ohio Nurses Association and attended our biennial convention last October where we voted the first STAFF NURSE in the history of the ONA as President! My state nurses association is doing a lot to help eliminate mandatory OT. There is a bill in the Ohio state legislature as we speak that would make mandatory OT illegal.

-jt

2,709 Posts

I'm astounded at how the hospitals are allowed to dictate your conditions of employment as they seem to do, without any consultation with the very people ( nurses) it employs.>>

The suits do get away with all of that but only in non-union facilities here. And thats the majority of them simply because many nurses in this country are still opposed to the concept of unionizing.

(dont ask me why......I havent figured that one out yet).

Most of the working staff nurses in this country are not union - by choice. In NY, we have about 200,000 RNs yet maybe little more than 50,000 or so have unionized - 34,000 of them with my union.

In CA, with all the many different nurses unions they have there, less than 35% of the nurses in that state have unionized. In states in between these 2 coasts the numbers are much much less. The poster above from CA says she has never been approached by a union but most nurses unions will not go into a facility to organize the nurses unless & until they are invited by those nurses. Although more nurses are unionizing now than before, most in this country still dont want anything to do with it.

The strange thing is most RNs complain about the conditions they are working in, the wages they are being paid, the benefits they receive or lack of them, how they have no say in the hospital decisions that affect them or the conditions of their employment, & what their employers get away with doing to them - yet they will not take the stand they need to take to have some control over all of that. Go figure.

Theres a very simple way to put an end to all of it, have a say in your workplace & improve all those conditions facility by facility --- Unionize. I just dont get what so many nurses are afraid of or why they continue to say 'unionizing is not the answer', at the same time they are complaining about how they are mistreated at work, talking to administrators till theyre blue in the face & still nothing changes. I live in NYC where the whole place was practically born union so its hard for me to understand why they will put up with all of this & still think that to unionize themselves is a bad thing.

Currently, 15 states have legislation pending in the works to prohibit mandatory ot. As of this year, 6 other states already passed laws restricting or banning mandatory ot - Oregon, Texas, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington, and New Jersey and another 16 states currently have safe staffing legislation pending - all thanks to the state nurses associations (most of whom wrote the laws themselves) and the unionized nurses & their labor organizations who fought feverently to get these laws passed to protect union & non-union nurses alike.

I would never be a staff RN in a non-union hospital ever again - especially not in this climate.

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