Anyone Staffed Strikes?

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Aug 9, 2006

This is a really old thread. I checked in to see why it had been resurrected, and after reading the current posts, just wanted to make a point for those who may not have been around long enough to have had this explained before:
When hospitals hire strikebreakers to cross picket lines it does NOT hurt the hospital or corporation financially. Hospitals have insurance policies which kick in to pay for the strikebreakers. Therefore you are NOT in any way "helping" the striking nurses by taking these positions. If you decide to take one of these jobs you are doing it for your own profit only. Maybe thats enough, but at least be honest with yourself about it.

You'll have to justify this assertion with some fact.

See, insurance companies are very stingy w/ money. That's how they make a profit. They don't typically write a blank check to an insured party to 'party' with. Knowing how insurance companies work, I cannot envision that THEY would write such a blank and open-ended check.

At best, the insurance company would be hot on the hospital to end the open-ended liability. At worst, the size of next year's premium, if such a thing exists for this purpose, and I doubt it, would be directly proportional to the current expenditures.

So, at a minimum, the administration would be worried about the future cost of this insurance, if it exists. And, there would be just one added pressure for admin to settle.

Or, think about it like this: what happens to YOUR premium when you are the cause of a multi-car pileup?

I'll say this: the cost of replacement workers can run in the millions in just a few days. NOBODY writes a multi-million dollar check w/ a smile on their faces. Nor do they write such checks without the actuary in place to recoup the loss.

So, it's just not true to say that a hospital can weather the costs of replacement workers for free. As another poster posted in another thread: TNSTAAFL - THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

You better believe that IF such a policy exists, there are clauses that prompt a hospital, at every turn, to limit the liability by settling the strike. Again, a plus plus if YOU are the union striking.

~faith,

Timothy.

youaintright · Sep 15, 2007

MobileRN.com is all I can tell you. All info needed will be found there. Take it or leave it. The bottom line is that it boils down to: if a unit has to close because of a strike that wasn't manned by replacement nurses then many nurses that go on strikes would be left without a job and unions wouldn't have jobs either. It is one's choice to be a scab or not. You can choose to not have to work your holidays because you'll be covered with money made at a strike or have to forcefully work a holiday because you're broke from a strike that you didn't work. Research says that it takes about half a billion dollars to restart a unit that has been shut down. They never send incompetent nurses to strikes. Nobody will hire you if you're not proven with experience in the field and criminal background checks are completed before you go to your strike. They won't send you without one nor will the hospital be so incompetent in hiring you if they haven't checked your criminal history first. It just doesn't work that way. Can you name any hospital that would hire a nurse with a positive urine drug screen? Uhhhh the answer to that question is NO.

So take your pick. The strike companies take more than care of you, they butter you and wrap you in silk before they send you home in appreciation of the sacrifice you put yourself through in working a strike. Its not dangerous either. I hope this information helped you a bit.

By the way, the patients also thank you for being their nurse and caring for them when the "Union members" have abandoned their care in search of financial remuneration. Can you believe that the so called picketers attack the patients too? Research the strike that went on last year in September in NJ. I was the nurse for the baby of a Dentist that was attacked by a picketer. Good luck to you!:balloons: :devil: