why do we settle for such low pay

[TRN]

I just read that hotel maids in New York make $18/hour. That is what many nurses in this country make. I agree with the previous post that we are creating our own shortage in many ways. Unfortunately, nurses do not seem to able able to stand together. It's sad actually.

[wolfox]

Exactly Robert! As long as hospitals pay us just to "sit at the desk" or whatever it is that we do we will be low-paid blue-collar workers to them.

Each profession not only has regulatory boards and technical trainging-but they also demand and recieve a certain compensation for tasks and for consultation. How many times this past week have you spent 30 minutes explaining to a patient their disease process, POC and expected outcome? Is that truly only worth $7-$10?????

[nell]

Originally posted by Norbert Holz

...Start an IV $75.00

maintain running IV fluids $ 200.00 per liter (or part of liter)

medication teaching $25.00 per medication

physical assessment $75.00

dietary intervention $25.00

dressing change, simple $75.00

oral medication administration $10.00 per tablet

IV push medication $50.00

Telemetry monitoring $10.00 per hour...

LOVE it!

Mr. Huffman: Not all unions are the same. Several hospitals in our area have their own independent unions. As Teshiee said, they protect us from abuse.

[Dez]

[hotel maids--usually minimum wage (usually Mexican)]

And that statement had anything to do with what? And do you mean usually Latin or do you think all Mexicans are Latin?

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Well Howdy Nell, yes unions ultimately are pretty much the same. They function on what you could call a dictatorship of mediocrity. When I was younger I would bargain myself into better paying jobs, by providing extra services. In a union setting there is no bargaining available. So a nurse who was working staff got the same as another nurse who not only worked staff, but sat in on committees, wrote policy and procedures, was active in quality assurance, process improvement etc. Unions take away bargaining of the individual and use collective bargaining. This may be good for the masses but not necessarily good for enterprising individuals.

And Dez lighten up on sjoe he didnt mean anything by it. Here in Texas they are not Latins either, the term here is Hispanic.

doo wah ditty

[Dez]

Hi teeituptom,

Im not lookin for a fight, I was just really surprised that sjoe even mentioned race when the issue was about low pay. Im not mad or upset, actually I was more curious than anything to the relevance of that statement. If he had said (usually polish),(usually Italian) etc. I would have asked the same. It was a little offensive to me but like I said Im not mad just curiuos. I have learned with prn to not let anyone like that get me so mad again. Its just not worth it. Also, I live in California, so here we say Latino. Scratch the last statement. I just wanted to know what was the relevance of hotel maids usually being mexican. Its no big deal! I just asked a question. :)

[ANnot4me]

Add a few extras to that a la carte menu...

Leaving the unit to go to BB or pharmacy $25

Answering the phone $5/call (billed to the physician who paged the person 2 seconds before, but can't be bothered to answer the phone)

Calling any department the second or third time for something that should have been available hours ago $20

How out 50% of their daily consult fee for any physician that calls me and asks me a thousand questions about a patient, but never comes to see them (burns my butt)

Leaving the unit to fetch anything that should be routinely stocked on the unit (ie, sugar, juice, IVF, etc) $10/min ($50 min)

that's just a few!

[nell]

teeituptom, as I said, not all unions are alike. Ours has negotiated a clinical ladder so that the staff nurse who just comes in and does her job does not make the same as a staff nurse who sits on comittes, etc. With our last contract, the standards to qualify for CNIII were modified and groundwork has been laid for CNIV.

Our union addresses what is important to it's members and negotiates in our behalf. It prevents tyranical managers from targeting individuals for abuse.

Personally, I think all nurses on the same level (senority, experience, extra projects, etc.) should get paid the same - the better negotiator/more agressive nurse should not get paid more.

[James Huffman]

Originally posted by nell

Personally, I think all nurses on the same level (senority, experience, extra projects, etc.) should get paid the same - the better negotiator/more agressive nurse should not get paid more.

This is in the very nature of my disagreement about unions. There are NO nurses "on the same level." NO ONE has identical seniority, experience and experiences, clinical expertise and abilities, management skills, etc. Yet unions treat nurses -- and other employees -- as though they were cogs on a wheel, interchangable, and identical.

I'd also add that if a facility refuses to pay more to nurses who are better negotiators or more aggressive, what they have ensured is that those nurses will take their expertise elsewhere, to a place that will reward them for their negoiating skills. (Negotiating is a career skill, pure and simple). Such nurses simply won't tolerate being treated "like everyone else," when the reality is that they are NOT like everyone else.

Jim Huffman, RN

http://www.NetworkforNurses.com

[sjoe]

Dez: Well since you decided to be ultra PC and try to make an issue out of it, the simple reason I mentioned that hotel maids were usually Mexican, is that the original question posed by Mr. Huffman had to do with the salary of hotel maids and others in NYC. You will note that my post was in reply to his.

The fact that they are usually Mexican citizens here in San Diego may partially account for the fact that their pay is so low here, and thus perhaps not comparable to a different situation in NYC, perhaps unlike the other job categories listed.

Now, maybe you want to gripe about my titling workers as "garbage collectors," or "meter maids" as though those are some kind of slurs?

Oh, and by the way, "Mexican" is not a race, but a nationality.

[MHN]

Some of the postings here have referred to the unions being poor at negotiating a better deal for the nurses.My question is then who are the union members what do they pay their dues for?

The answer is simple the nurses pay dues to employ someone to do their bidding the only problem is that a lot of us don't think of the union officials as being our employees .We are the the one's paying their wages so we are the people who should be instructing them what their tasks are.So stand up instruct them tell them what to do or else sit on your hands and get "blue fingers"

After nearly 33 yrs as a nurse nothing has changed there has always been complaints about unions officials not doing their jobs and getting the best salary and conditions for us however in my view most of us are not involved enough we need to make a real effort direct our energies towards our goals rather than as one poster suggested fighting and crying about our situation.

As for todays pay i can earn a comfortable living but can also remember when I only earned $18.00 a week now its more like $25 an hour so the pay has improved some conditions have been eroded and others improved .

So take up the challenge fight for what is rightfully ours.

[Dez]

Actually sjoe,

No issue, just curious as to what race or nationality had to do with this issue. You have more than answered my question. And hey thanks for teaching me that mexican is not a race but a nationality. I just had no idea! :roll

[sjoe]

MHN: One of the problems is that so many nursing environments are now "closed shops," where employees are forced to join a certain union. And, since that weak, company union is already in business, it is all but impossible to get the nurses to even consider decertifying it and moving on to a union that might be strong. Inertia, despair, doing too many things already, just wanting to forget about the entire job at the end of the day--all these are valid reasons, of course, but the situation simply is perpetuated. (Insert my signature/motto here.)

And, I am wondering, were you treated better and were you gaining more professional satisfaction when making $18 a WEEK (!) than you are now? Or do you think you still have as much time and support, etc. to provide individualized and supportive health care as before? Just curious. ($18/week sounds like the Great Depression to me.)

Thanks for providing your perspective, as well about crying (and whining, and complaining) NOT being useful in bringing about the required changes. Since you recognize that nurses don't tend to be involved enough to actually make effective changes, perhaps you have some thoughts about what, if anything, CAN be accomplished by those of us with some time and involvement. My experience so far (12+ years) leads me to think it is simply beating one's head against a brick wall.