Crisis/strike travel

NedRN · Oct 23, 2015

There is a forum that specializes just in talking about strikes. If you google scab dot org (with punctuation), the first hit will be it. Scab dot org was its prior address. Still a rather unpleasant forum, and like you might expect of companies who exist to bring down nurses, none of them are well thought of if you read that forum, even by those who work for them. Anyway, there you will find the strike agency's names, and advertisements for them.

Regardless of what you think about the ethics of working strikes, in general if you miss an assignment because of a strike, you will likely make less money overall that year. Most strikes cancel.

Probably the next few years will be good to strike workers. The economic downturn is largely over, and the underlying nursing shortage is becoming apparent and the census is back up to pre-downturn numbers. This means the average nurse is again overworked and hospitals have patient safety issues. Staffing shortages are good for strike workers because unions now have more power and are more likely to flex their muscles with strikes.

Staffing shortages are also good for regular travelers of course.

My experience at a couple of strikes is huge workloads with lots of shortcuts taken. Two of them I went to I had no drug screen (a third had an instant one at the hotel), and of course no one validated my references or work history - no time. Each one is a huge party the first day (usually not a work day) with many returning strike workers meeting other they met before. Each "event" I was at saw several people bounced for going to work drunk. I have no doubt that core strike workers are competent and good nurses, but the nature of such events is they do attract those who cannot sustain employment. (Much the same can be said about travelers, but to a much lessor degree as they are vetted better). Most of the strike workers I met were from the South and taking a short leave from staff jobs. The money at most strikes is not a big deal to travelers, but it can make a huge difference in the family income to a nurse working for chump change in the South. At the end of the strike (the ones I went to were all two day strikes), the biggest issue was an early flight out to work their scheduled shift at home.

Personally, I'm opposed to strike work ethically. The only real reason to do it is to make money, and in my opinion, there are better ways to make money than hurting unions of nurses just like me who are largely responsible everywhere (except the South) for the relatively decent wages and working conditions we have today. Wages and working conditions could be improved of course, but working strikes is going the exact opposite direction.

Frankly, I'm not opposed to working two and three day strikes (that often turn into a five day lockout, at least the ones that don't cancel) because those are just negotiating tactics with no intention of shutting the hospital down and going on a real strike. The unions know that strike workers will be used (and indeed want the hospital to stay open). Their goal is to help drain the strike insurance that the hospital carries so that the next strike will hurt.

I think if you search AllNurses, you will find a number of threads about strikes for more opinions. Pretty sure I just repeated myself with this post.

8-ball, BSN · Oct 23, 2015

Hey NedRN I totally agree with you on this, question though. You mentioned that the nurses in the west who are part of a union are the reason for the ratio laws etc. Do you or anyone else have insight on getting a state unionized. I am from Fl originally and they have a union, I then moved to TN where nursing is horribly under represented but everyone says the south will never allow a union to come here. Which is why its so bad here. My question is what can we do about that?

NedRN · Oct 23, 2015

Florida has a nursing union? I wasn't aware of any union hospitals there.

The South has some huge blind spots. They think the Republican party will help the worker, and that unions are bad. These are basically faith based (not talking religion) beliefs and so ingrained in the entire culture that I would find a huge change astonishing. Nevertheless, there are some positive signs, some of the car factories that have sprung up in the South are unionizing I believe, and last year brought the news of a hospital in Texas voting for the union.

What can we do? Mostly just vote with our feet and work in favorable locations. That doesn't really address the problem for all nurses, but even personal decisions like not working strikes is helpful.

8-ball, BSN · Oct 23, 2015

Thanks NedRN, and this is one of the many reasons I am leaving TN to start travel nursing. The pay is really low meanwhile the CEO's are complaining about ACA and losing money so sorry no raises for the 5th year in a row but yet he and others on the board just got a $14 million bonus split amongst them. Yes Florida has a union, its weird Florida isn't really part of the south. So many Yankees retire in Florida that it has become something else. I would say that their union is not as active as other unions but they did fight for increased wages while I was there back in 2010-11.

NedRN · Oct 23, 2015

I did notice a sharp rise in Florida pay for travelers a few years ago, but I doubt that is related to any union activity. I can only guess that with job insecurity sentiment among nurses, many decided that if they were going to take the risk of traveling, they were going for higher paying jobs and not pay the sun tax in Florida. Lowered availability of travelers meant a rise in bill rates and pay in Florida. Florida would have a tough time without travelers as they are so seasonal.

I forgot to mention right-to-work laws in relationship to the South. I believe they are universal to every southern state and I think they were mostly enacted in the very anti-union 1970's there. Right-to-work allows anyone to work at a union job without paying dues. This really takes away union power and is a tough hurdle to unionizing in the South. Big news in the last few years was some heavily union states like Wisconsin enacting right-to-work laws.

8-ball, BSN · Oct 23, 2015

I have heard that term Right-to-work a lot here but never really knew what they meant by it. I thought it meant that you had the right to work after an injury. As in they had to grant you a desk job if your injury required you not stand more than x hours a day.

NedRN · Oct 23, 2015

I remember seeing a bumper sticker in Louisiana (I worked offshore) around 1975 that said: "Right to work - for less". I wondered what that meant for 20 years. Now I get it - funny! My fellow construction workers were vehemently anti-union. I had no idea of the issues at the time growing up in a rural area of the Midwest, and as an offshore welder, I was treated like royalty and paid like a physician.

Sometimes people have cause to be anti-union. I met a Fastaff traveler on my last assignment whose first job was at a union hospital. A union nurse made a big fuss when she found out he made almost as much as she did, and his pay was lowered $4 an hour (I assume he was brought in above union scale for no seniority). So he feels like unions have too much power and he enjoys taking them down a peg or two and making great money doing so.

(This guy also gave me the strike worker definition of scab: it isn't them, it is staff that crosses the picket line. New definition to me! Clearly made up so they feel like the label is incorrectly applied to them. Yakking on nurse forums, there are a ton of rationalizations that strike workers use to feel better about the work they do that has so many negative connotations. All BS, the only valid reason to do it is the money, that is a reason I can respect but few will admit to it).

But most people are pro or anti-union based on where they grew up. Sometimes people learn about the history of unions as I did and how they have brought up all workers (laws such as child labor, overtime, and the 40 hour week all came about from unions) and change their opinions. And some become anti-union when they see abuses of power, and of course seeing union workers that do a minimum of work for big pay. Slackers come pretty equally in both varieties, and there are abuses of power in all positions of power. Not a reason to hate, but it is human nature.

michlynn, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2015

Thanks for your input as always, Ned! I think I probably would feel a little guilty hurting union nurses because it would be nice if all states were union.

NedRN · Oct 24, 2015

That would be nice to have all hospitals unionized! And nonprofit. Not only for nurses but for patient care (kind of the same thing really). There is a danger there if unions become too powerful. Just as corporate healthcare is today. But that day is a long way away in this country, although it is standard in I believe every other industrialized nation.

You know, I focused on strike travel in your first post and overlooked "crisis" staffing. Rapid response agencies like Fastaff do both (well, technically parent company U.S. Nursing does the strikes). Crisis staffing can be a regular travel job, just higher paying because the hospital needs you right now, and usually you can work more hours. There are a lot of those currently. Historically, more rapid response jobs are difficult assignments. Bad ratios, stressed staff, horrible management.

I don't recommend rapid response for new travelers. Experienced and confident travelers can give it a try. Most assignments are 48 hours weekly minimum so you are really doing it for the money with the location being less relevant. Travelers have to hit the floor running on ordinary assignments, but rapid response is more like sprinting.

All agencies will offer "crisis" staffing as it is their regular clients with a hot need and a higher bill rate to get it filled fast. Rapid response agencies specialize on high needs hospitals who are either willing or must pay more to fill holes. These are often troubled hospitals or there is some issue and they often need multiple travelers.

Fastaff is the granddaddy of rapid response and has most of the business. On Assignment was next biggest agency but they croaked during the downturn (a really rough time for all agencies, but especially rapid response) and have been absorbed by Medical Solutions. While MS is a big agency, I don't know if they have kept up rapid response - I'm not sure OA was able to. Cross Country has a brand just for rapid response, CRU48; and American Mobile has the Nurse Choice brand for rapid response. I don't know of other major players but I may be out of touch.

kdavis15 · Oct 28, 2015

Check out Alaska

kdavis15 · Oct 28, 2015

whats the difference between crisis and strike nursing?