Can you make a living just doing strikes?

Underthemoonicp6 · May 17, 2015

I know the thing about working strikes is you can be waiting for a strike to happen and then it settles before it starts. You've now missed out on potential income waiting for it and it never happens. If you're not working at all though then maybe it could work for you. Have you thought of doing local per diem? Also, where do you go to find strikes? I'm interested in looking into them but don't know how to find them.

guest769224 · May 17, 2015

I don't think it's feasible. They are so infrequent, and prone to cancellation that it would be difficult to financially support yourself on them. There are also some moral issues involved.

perfexion, ASN, RN · May 17, 2015

Underthemoon, I work for Fastaff and they have a strike division. Check out US Nursing. And I have no moral issues with working strikes. I'm trying to find a way to make money without leaving my family for 3 months so the whole scab nursing thing takes a back burner.

NedRN · May 17, 2015

The vast majority of strikes settle before starting, leaving most potential workers out of several hours signup for no compensation. Not worth it for most travelers. From my experience, most strike workers are staff nurses from the south who can wrangle a few days off for the typical 2 to 5 day action.

At times in the past, it was possible to work full time doing strikes, and that may be possible again in the near future. The underlying nursing shortage is becoming very pressing now that the economy is improving and more people are insured under the ACA. For the most part, it is only "worth it" if you hit a long term strike. For ordinary travelers, you can make more by working steady at ordinary assignments. Right now, travel is becoming a seller's market with more and more job orders at crisis rates that make many strike rates look low. I got a strike email today with a quoted pay rate of just over half what my current "crisis" assignment is paying.

So no to the OP, I don't think you will be able to support your family by strictly working strikes at this point. But there certainly are assignments of less than 8 weeks out there depending on your specialty. Am I remembering correctly that you are an L&D nurse? You should be able to pick up 2 to 4 week assignments at rates better than most strike nurses make, without any moral jeopardy. Personally, I would be (have been) embarrassed to tell anyone I was working at a strike. There is more honor in doing the most humble of jobs, like working in a sewage plant.

For those that want to find out about working strikes, there are only three or four major players currently and a similar number of small fry. The best place to learn about these companies is on the former scab dot org (seriously) now renamed mobilern. Just signing up for this forum will get you emails from strike companies. All of them are poor companies to work for - if you think about their core business of undermining workers at other businesses, you will understand that their ethics are impaired when it comes to their attitude about their own workers (who they know of course are just there for the money). The biggest companies are owned by felons (again, not kidding). You won't find many kudos reading the forums on mobilern, just complaints. Scabs put up with it for the money, which for the typical nurse from the south, is really big bucks.

Wolf at the Door, BSN · May 20, 2015

I did a strike assignment last year. Most nurses from strikes do tend to be from southern states like GA, MS, and LA. I met a nurse who is just PRN and does strikes. She is married with kids living in Louisiana. In reality I cannot make a living doing that. I do like being PRN.

RNDudeOne · May 24, 2015

Sounds a bit bias Ned. The fact is, hospitals are not warehouses where everyone can turn off the lights and leave when there's a labor disagreement. The patients still require care, and the cost of flying in replacement staff--mostly from southeastern states, putting them up in hotels, and all the other required measures is highly costly. Avoiding that extraneous expense in this time of tightening budgets in the Age of Obamacare is leverage enough for facilities to take labor demands seriously. Don't blame the excellent RNs that do their best to meet patient needs while the facilities regular nurses take time off.

In addition, I have worked several of these events. I found U.S. Nursing to be an excellent organization that does a herculean task on 10-day's strike notice of finding, transporting, housing, feeding and orienting sometimes hundreds of nurses. Their standards are certainly not low. And they are sometimes infiltrated by those sympathetic to labor. But run by felons? I don't think so.

It's widely accepted that, if you're looking for felons and organized crime, look to labor leaders that start these walk-outs.

RNDudeOne · May 24, 2015

I agree. Most strike workers I know hit as many as they can, but have a per diem or on-call position back home to fill in the dry periods. Strikes are a great way to see America and earn good $$.

NedRN · May 24, 2015

Sounds a bit bias Ned. The fact is, hospitals are not warehouses where everyone can turn off the lights and leave when there's a labor disagreement. The patients still require care, and the cost of flying in replacement staff--mostly from southeastern states, putting them up in hotels, and all the other required measures is highly costly. Avoiding that extraneous expense in this time of tightening budgets in the Age of Obamacare is leverage enough for facilities to take labor demands seriously. Don't blame the excellent RNs that do their best to meet patient needs while the facilities regular nurses take time off.
In addition, I have worked several of these events. I found U.S. Nursing to be an excellent organization that does a herculean task on 10-day's strike notice of finding, transporting, housing, feeding and orienting sometimes hundreds of nurses. Their standards are certainly not low. And they are sometimes infiltrated by those sympathetic to labor. But run by felons? I don't think so.

There is a reason why you invent rationalizations to be a scab. You know it is distasteful, and you want to feel good about yourself. Despite your very human need for defense mechanisms, I'm sorry, I can't respect you. If you simply state accurately and honestly that you do it for the money, that I could respect. Instead, you state you are being noble and saving patients and hospitals!

So, let me back up what I said with logic and facts. I know you know being a scab is distasteful and undercuts nurses. I know because you surrounded with security and are bussed into the striking hospital crossing lines of picketing nurses who are not just taking time off, but are risking their jobs, families, and homes to do so with no pay (they are not just taking time off as you put it).

By federal law (the National Labor Relations Act) a strike notice of no less than 10 days must be given to any affected healthcare institution. This is to protect patients and provide time for a hospital to transfer any patients who need more than 10 days care, wind down their operations, cancel surgeries, make arrangements to bypass the emergency department and so on.

Do hospitals actually do that? Of course not. It is unlikely they would recover from that. No patient would trust them again, or even more importantly, no doctor with admitting privileges would trust them again, and all would take their business to competitors. Ironically, all the striking nurses would be able to obtain jobs at competing hospitals to cover their increased workload.

So what would happen in the absence of wonderful beneficial organizations such as USSN who do Herculean labors so altruistically and heroically? The hospital would have to bargain with the union for a new contract in good faith and there would be no strike.

Yes, strikes are about money, but not necessarily for the striking nurses directly. More often than not recently, they are about safe staffing levels and practices, which few non-union hospitals meet by any objective criteria. Yes, that will cost a lot of money, and the hospital decides that a strategy of letting unions do short strikes will cost them less as a strategy than giving in fully to demands. That is generally a calculated decision giving total cost more weight than patient care and optimal outcomes.

By the way, most union hospitals have strike insurance. One reason they lock out nurses for five days on a two day strike is because the insurance will pay for it. Ultimately they pay for strikes of course, but bean counters tend to look only at short term costs, and in the short term, the out of pocket cost is zero. They don't take into account the lowered standards of care during a strike, nor the cost to their relationship with all hospital employees long term.

As far as the felon comment goes, it was based on the pioneer of nursing strike companies, Gary Fanger. He is a convicted felon and served four years before founding HCSS. Numerous legal difficulties (including non-payment of scabs) caused him to fold HCSS and start Healthsource Global, which I believe to be the second largest strike company after US Nursing (both are privately held so information is not freely available). I visited their offices in Fremont one time (bicycled by on an assignment there). It is a Mailboxes USA box!

Confined Space: Katrina Evacuees Scab At San Francisco Hospital Strike

This is the history of strike nursing. While the founder of US Nursing does not have a criminal record, again the nature of the business is anti labor, which means they don't respect their own employees. US Nursing / Fastaff has been fined by several state labor boards for not paying according to state overtime rules. As cited before, you can find plenty of horror stories on the former scab.org forums now at mobilern (unfortunately without the historical forums as they are using different forum software), and can even read about some on AllNurses. Here is a link to get you started:

https://allnurses.com/travel-nursing/fastaff-60427.html

Makes a lot of sense of course. Just like strike workers, strike companies are motivated by greed. Yes, their organizational skills are amazing. In fact, I went to my first strike out of curiosity about the business process. Don't get me started on their high standards. They cannot ever get enough nurses to work a strike, so it is about minimal qualifications and warm bodies. I've been to two strikes with no drug screen and on short notice so no way to verify employment. Every strike I've been to has been a party with serious drinking going on, with a couple of nurses showing up to work the first shift drunk and get bounced. But they come back for the next strike!

If you really believe what you are spouting, then you feel good about yourself and what you do. But then why on earth are you being defensive and posting ridiculous rationalizations for working strikes here? Try the friendly audience at mobilern. I won't debate ethics with you there.

NedRN · May 24, 2015

I agree. Most strike workers I know hit as many as they can, but have a per diem or on-call position back home to fill in the dry periods. Strikes are a great way to see America and earn good $$.

Or like most strike workers I have met, they have a full time job in the South.

One of the interesting dynamics here is that if a traveler takes a risk and signs up for a 2, 3, or 5 day strike and it cancels, they have lost a week or two of work of a travel assignment they could have done instead. If they work it, it increases their annual income by perhaps as much as $4,000. A typical traveler makes 100K a year, so this extra earnings, although great by the hour, ends up practically invisible in the bank at the end of the year. As I have frequently said here, it is not worth it for most travelers, at least the ones who get good references and can make good money doing regular assignments (supporting the staff rather than undercutting them).

By the way, it is travel nurses that have a great way to see America and make good money. Strike nurses mostly see the hotel bar and the hospital. Flown in just prior to the strike starting, bussed to work, and working every day until they are flown home.

Staff nurses from the South are in a different financial category altogether. Many only make 40 to 50K a year. Taking a few days off once or twice a year can bump their annual earnings by 10 or 20 percent. That is huge!

Wolf at the Door, BSN · May 24, 2015

Or like most strike workers I have met, they have a full time job in the South.
By the way, it is travel nurses that have a great way to see America and make good money. Strike nurses mostly see the hotel bar and the hospital. Flown in just prior to the strike starting, bussed to work, and working every day until they are flown home.
Staff nurses from the South are in a different financial category altogether. Many only make 40 to 50K a year. Taking a few days off once or twice a year can bump their annual earnings by 10 or 20 percent. That is huge!

I like quick assignments. I did get to spend a day in San Fran and that was all I needed.

NedRN · May 24, 2015

I've been to three strikes now with perhaps unusual motivation. The first one I went to because I was curious about the logistics and how patient care worked under such conditions. The next two were because I wanted to visit the area and friends. So yes, still about the money as I couldn't justify the trips on my own dime. I also went to San Francisco driving and stayed several weeks. The strike cancelled so even my conscience was relatively clear. It did take me a couple of months to wrest the stipend out of the agency though. Par for the course I believe.

Personally, I think a decent ethical case can be made for working a two day or similar strike. It is just a mild bargaining tactic and the intent by the union is just to inflict a little pain on the hospital. It is not an all out battle. Crossing a picket line on an open ended strike is a different matter altogether.

But I still don't see how working a short term strike benefits travelers generally, at least not in the current environment. If it fits between assignments and perhaps you are already working for Fastaff, then the force is with you. But as a deliberate strategy for a long term traveler, it seems to me to be more likely to cut your income than enhance it.