Right now, 15,000 nurses in Minnesota, part of MNA, spanning 16 (?) hospitals, are on a 3-day strike. It's the largest nursing strike in US history.
Staffing plans for this strike include utilizing nursing leaders as "helpers" and paying exorbitant amounts to travel nurses to fill in (on a FB L&D nursing group I'm in, I saw one agency offering $10,000 for five 12-hour shifts at one hospital in a northern suburb of Minneapolis).
As a nursing leader, it was requested that I sign up for a shift at one of the hospitals that is affiliated with the clinic where I work. I opted not to sign up, as I do not want to cross the picket line, and I am in solidarity with the nurses who are striking.
Ironically, my son came down with appendicitis yesterday morning, and I had to cross the picket line anyway, as we brought him in to the local ED and he had emergency surgery yesterday afternoon (they had to transport him to the children's hospital in the neighboring city because the children's hospital in the city where we originally brought him was closed except the ED, due to the strike). He got great care and is now home resting. Quite the ethical dilemma and moral crisis, depending on, and grateful to, the "scab" nurses (can I say that here?) that I disdained a week ago!
In case anyone was wondering, the major requests of the nurses is a 30% pay increase over the next 3 years, and having direct say and a vote in individual units' staffing plans. As in, 51% of the nurses in a unit must approve the staffing ratios of that unit. I think that is VERY reasonable.
The first picture was taken from the cafeteria at the Children's hospital in Minneapolis. The second picture was taken from the lobby at Regions in St. Paul, just because I've never seen such healthy dracaena before and I thought they were beautiful. ?
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
16 minutes ago, subee said:
Well, having driven through Illinois once to Champaign-Urbana, all I can remember is cornfields with the mighty U of Ill campus in the middle:) But I expected that rural community colleges might supply nursing graduates and wondering if they just don't want to work specifically where TraumaRU is or if they are going to other places in central Illinois. Rural recruiting is always a problem.
I expect that community colleges are graduating ADNs but, as you said, recruiting them to rural settings can be a challenge.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
On 9/14/2022 at 9:18 AM, lilRN16 said:
The bolded Is why working outside of California terrifies me, baffles me and sounds so unsafe. And why do yall tolerate this constant putting your license in jeopardy?
4:1 ratios is unsafe? Believe me, I am not putting my license at risk. I wouldn't work for facility that has 6-8:1 ratios. Those are the ones that are usually for-profit or small community hospitals. The incongruity of hospitals and systems in this country is mind-boggling
The bolded is why working outside of California terrifies me, baffles me and sounds so unsafe. And why do yall tolerate this constant putting your license in jeopardy?
Working at some hospitals in Cali isn’t any better either. They get rid of all ancillary staff that they can get away with so it is still very unsafe (even before Covid). Try and strike you say, nope you are actually/legally subpoenaed to work.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
3 hours ago, mmc51264 said:
4:1 ratios is unsafe? Believe me, I am not putting my license at risk. I wouldn't work for facility that has 6-8:1 ratios. Those are the ones that are usually for-profit or small community hospitals. The incongruity of hospitals and systems in this country is mind-boggling
That is the result of fractured health systems designed as much to bill and move money as it is to provide for patient needs. Too many middle men and poor communication get in the way of first world patient outcomes but the billing cycles go on.
This thread is why nurses will never be able to unite for better pay and working conditions.
As a nurse with over 5 years experience in my area I was making $26.80/hr. In a specialized ICU. I did compressions and literally saved lives on a daily basis. How much does an entry level NBA player make??? Seriously?
Nurses save lives. You can’t put a monetary value on that. So what if it makes me somewhat middle class? In my city, for a single mom with 2 kids, it cost $35/hr. So I was actually WAY under that. Fortunately I am married, but many of my coworkers were not. The only way to survive for them was to work 48-60 hours a week. Then you miss your children growing up. And I will REITERATE WE SAVE LIVES!!!
With inflation 30% is a mere drop in the bucket.
I switched jobs and currently make $42/hr. Quite an increase but so has everything else. Im still not able to save more than I was 5 years ago. That’s sad. It’s sad that as an experienced RN I can’t manage to save more for my retirement. I know hospitals are charging more for care and supplies.
What exactly is anyone’s life worth?? What is it worth to have a nurse with Kant years of experience care for you or your loved one in their time of need? Answer: whatever it takes.
Specializes in ,ICU, Cardiac critical care, Vascular surgery.
We call these nurses scabs, have disdain for them, but if you think about it, if it wasn't for them, we couldn't have gone on strike. I know I received a text from a traveling company looking for nurses to cover the strike. As a retired MNA nurse, I sent a reply that I wasn't interested, & it was a conflict of interest so they needed to stop contacting me. I went on the one day informational strike over a decade ago. When I went back to work, the patients told me that they received excellent care . I do know some of the critical care float/ flying squad crossed the line. It wasn't that they were supporting the strike, but they wanted to make sure if there was a code or rapid response that patient weren't in danger because the " scabs" didn't know where things were or how to get want they needed to do their job. Some people were upset with those nurses, but they also made sure we could go on strike & not have to worry about our patients getting the short end of the stick.
Right now, 15,000 nurses in Minnesota, part of MNA, spanning 16 (?) hospitals, are on a 3-day strike. It's the largest nursing strike in US history.
Staffing plans for this strike include utilizing nursing leaders as "helpers" and paying exorbitant amounts to travel nurses to fill in (on a FB L&D nursing group I'm in, I saw one agency offering $10,000 for five 12-hour shifts at one hospital in a northern suburb of Minneapolis).
As a nursing leader, it was requested that I sign up for a shift at one of the hospitals that is affiliated with the clinic where I work. I opted not to sign up, as I do not want to cross the picket line, and I am in solidarity with the nurses who are striking.
Ironically, my son came down with appendicitis yesterday morning, and I had to cross the picket line anyway, as we brought him in to the local ED and he had emergency surgery yesterday afternoon (they had to transport him to the children's hospital in the neighboring city because the children's hospital in the city where we originally brought him was closed except the ED, due to the strike). He got great care and is now home resting. Quite the ethical dilemma and moral crisis, depending on, and grateful to, the "scab" nurses (can I say that here?) that I disdained a week ago!
In case anyone was wondering, the major requests of the nurses is a 30% pay increase over the next 3 years, and having direct say and a vote in individual units' staffing plans. As in, 51% of the nurses in a unit must approve the staffing ratios of that unit. I think that is VERY reasonable.
The first picture was taken from the cafeteria at the Children's hospital in Minneapolis. The second picture was taken from the lobby at Regions in St. Paul, just because I've never seen such healthy dracaena before and I thought they were beautiful. ?
Saving your son's life is not crossing a picket line, IMO.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
On 9/15/2022 at 6:37 PM, LovingLife123 said:
This thread is why nurses will never be able to unite for better pay and working conditions.
As a nurse with over 5 years experience in my area I was making $26.80/hr. In a specialized ICU. I did compressions and literally saved lives on a daily basis. How much does an entry level NBA player make??? Seriously?
Nurses save lives. You can’t put a monetary value on that. So what if it makes me somewhat middle class? In my city, for a single mom with 2 kids, it cost $35/hr. So I was actually WAY under that. Fortunately I am married, but many of my coworkers were not. The only way to survive for them was to work 48-60 hours a week. Then you miss your children growing up. And I will REITERATE WE SAVE LIVES!
With inflation 30% is a mere drop in the bucket.
I switched jobs and currently make $42/hr. Quite an increase but so has everything else. Im still not able to save more than I was 5 years ago. That’s sad. It’s sad that as an experienced RN I can’t manage to save more for my retirement. I know hospitals are charging more for care and supplies.
What exactly is anyone’s life worth?? What is it worth to have a nurse with Kant years of experience care for you or your loved one in their time of need? Answer: whatever it takes.
There was an article on this site that talked about how the only way to get a decent pay increase is to job hop. It's sad. I love my job, my hospital. I don't think that I would make much more at another, but many nurses, there is a gap. I have found that climbing the clinical ladder has helped me be a better nurse, but is a way to get more money.
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
The strike is over, but were any changes made? Watch this video with nurses from the strike and the president of National Nurses United sharing their input on what the tipping point was for the strike.
I expect that community colleges are graduating ADNs but, as you said, recruiting them to rural settings can be a challenge.
some rural areas are overwhelmed with new grads, and experienced nurses, as there aren't many other employers. Everyone in my area went, thinking big money and work at Country Bumpkin General locally or at Hillbilly Healthcare in the next town over. Most of the nurses at those 2 hospitals are of the 5-10 years or more, because no one wants to drive an hour or more to Indy, Louisville, Bloomington, or Cincinnati. So new grads are pushed to the big cities, while these 2 hospitals attract experience at a lower rate due to less commute time. When I've posted this comment in the past, some others from other states say that they've seen the same thing
I live on the Minnesota border. It's now day 6 post strike and there's nothing, and I mean nothing in the news. Not a peep about the strike or any progress in negotiations, heck nothing about even going back to negotiations so I honestly have no clue if they are making any progress or even trying. Does anybody here have any clue what is going on with this?
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
21 hours ago, kbrn2002 said:
I live on the Minnesota border. It's now day 6 post strike and there's nothing, and I mean nothing in the news. Not a peep about the strike or any progress in negotiations, heck nothing about even going back to negotiations so I honestly have no clue if they are making any progress or even trying. Does anybody here have any clue what is going on with this?
Do you listen to MPR? They talked about it just yesterday. I came in at the very tail end so I didn't hear what was said. My assumption is that there will be more negotiation meetings in the next several days/weeks.
Also, I'm really upset that admin removed my photo of the dracaena. ?
toomuchbaloney
16,058 Posts
I expect that community colleges are graduating ADNs but, as you said, recruiting them to rural settings can be a challenge.