Administrator's Salaries

-jt · Jan 7, 2002

But was it a professional nurses association labor union? And did it have a strong collective bargaining program? And were the nurse members involved & active in it??? Ah.... BIG difference

You know the Teamsters are a labor union & has units that are "made up of" RNs. So do the Teachers and the Clerical Workers, and the Autoworkers unions. They all are labor unions that have groups made up of nurses. I'd rather put my money on a professional nurses labor union that is only made up of nurses.

Youre talking about grievances..... big deal... dont you ever have a disagreement with anybody? Hmmm??? Grievances are a good thing. They force both sides to acknowledge a problem, work out the issue & come to a solution together rather than shut one side out. Grievances allow for the enforcing of our contract which, if you cant do, there is no point even having a contract.

Grievances correct injustices which, in this imperfect world, occasionally do happen because we are dealing with human beings. No matter how hard we try to work together as partners, disagreements are bound to come up along the way & grievances help settle them. And grievances afford us a fair shake. We are not at the mercy of someones opinion, actions, or decisions.

Where I work, grievances also are few and far between but both sides make an effort to work together every day.

wildtime88 · Jan 7, 2002

Originally posted by -jt

Where I work, grievances also are few and far between but both sides make an effort to work together every day.

"Both sides"

This sums up the underlying climate in respect to labor unions.

Staff nurses on one side and Nurse Managers, Director's of Nursing, and Nursing Administators on the other. Need I say more about this and how the labor union philosopy pits nurse against nurse.

Can't we come up with a better way without this happening?

Remember that you are not likely to get much help from those you battled against yesterday. Not likely at all, especiallly with the way dislikes are manufactured and how long grudges are held in this profession.

Some of you guys can be catty, I think that is the PC word, and it can be about something as a silly as a pair of shoes, a hair style, or just someone new, and worse of all it interferes with work and getting the job done. And I have seen just how well and quickly compromise take place and how quickly bad feeling are resolved. And I have seen the paper wars with grievences and personal write ups.

Mijourney · Jan 8, 2002

Hi. I like the informed debate going on with unionites and antiunionites. I can't call it right now. I'm just going along for the ride to see where it goes.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the business and politics of health care. In fact, I know very little. I do know that when I'm working under someone's umbrella, like a CEO or board of directors in which his/her decisions directly affect me, I can hold them responsible or accountable in some ways. If this means bringing some aspects of their job in question like exorbitant salaries, then so be it.

I don't think that focusing on the issue of probable overly paid people whose level of stress on the job I don't feel quite ranks with bedside or direct care nurses should be a problem. Maybe someone can verify this.

donmurray · Jan 8, 2002

Wild, I am surprised at how many parallels there are over here and over there (and I'm trying not to take sides!) We are talking basic negotiation, which is more subtle than "them and us" Perhaps too, a move to a more enlightened approach all round. The days of confrontation as a first step are behind us. Two, or more, parties set out with differing objectives, and explore whatever common ground they can agree, then they try to resolve whatever is still on the table. Everyone goes in with an agenda. What can we agree on, what can be negotiated / exchanged / bartered, and what can not be given up. Each party has a rough idea what the other wants, and what they may settle for, and they try not to push the other(s) too far. Realism and Pragmatism are in evidence. It is no longer a "battle" the ground rules are clear, One is never let your "opponent" feel totally defeated. In the event of parties breaking the conventions, or not honouring agreements, then of course there must be some kind of sanctions which may be taken, but as a last resort. "Talk softly, but carry a big stick!" F.D.R.

Mijourney · Jan 8, 2002

Hi donmurray. You're right that it's better to have a cool head in these situations. I don't know if it's old age or what, but I think my last post here reflected a great deal of frustration. I really do feel, however, it's important to have that conversation with administration if there's concern about some aspect of their work. I don't think that because someone is on the board of directors or is an executive that they should get a reprieve from questioning. I will admit that I've had a few good administrators in my time that really cared about their employees. They worked very hard to work out a balancing act between business and patient care and deservedly earned a good salary for what they did. I guess my last several posts under other threads on the difficult marriage of business and health care is what made me decide that I should reserve my judgement a tiny bit on issues of management and labor. I realize that health care is relatively new to business and vice versa. It's been a hard road and a bitter pill for some of us to swallow. Wouldn't you agree?

Maybe as more knowledgeable, caring, and concerned nurses, physicians, and other health care practioners get into the upper rungs of management and ownership that things will start to improve. I can only hope.

liveintheOR · Jan 19, 2002

What the whole thing comes down to in the end, is substandard care for our patients. We don't have enough staff, or have new or poorly trained staff, lack of basic equipment because our hospital "doesn't have enough money" for these things while paying upper management outrageous amounts in salary. This is the biggest crime in this situation. I believe the gap in the salaries is criminal, but most of us would probably want more qualified help vs. more money if we had to choose how to spend the exec's extra salary. Our patients deserve so much better than this, and in withholding this care under the guise of lack of funds is truly reprehensible. I'm not sure what is to be done about this. The not for profit hospital I work in was posted as making the highest profit margin of any in our state according to the local paper last week. Then---we get a memo that the figures were "inaccurate". This week there is a hiring freeze, no overtime( don't know how they will accomplish that), and no new equipment is to be ordered unless the old equipment is broken. Now we really seem poor (on paper anyway). I know for a fact that our CEO makes $400,000/yr. in a small/medium size hospital.