Can a new grad negotiate union pay?

[Toots71506]

I'm currently in a 2nd degree BSN program and I was told last night by a classmate that we can demand more pay since we have work experience. I don't believe this and wanted to post here to find out the truth. I can't imagine that my 15 years of IT experience gives me the ability to negotiate to get $10 more an hour as a new RN. Does it work this way? The way I understand it is that if you are a nurse for a year in a union then you get x amount, 5 years gets x amount, etc. Thanks in advance for your responses.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

With a union, I doubt that you can negotiate. Sometimes if you have nursing experience they might give you more based on that if the union negotiated that, but otherwise I think not.

Are you going to be taking a pay cut. Why are you leaving IT?

[JenniferSews]

My thoughts exactly....... I think they need to teach a course in nursing school about the current state of the employment market for new grads and eralistic expectations.

Blasphemy! Teachers who talk realistically about the job market are quickly hushed. Their salary is paid by tuition and a dip in admissions might mean cut backs to salary. The one who was honest with us was only honest because she was retiring at the end of the semester. The rest preached the nursing shortage like it was gospel.

[Toots71506]

Thank you all for your responses. I thought I was right on with this and I'm still amazed at how many of my classmates still think there is a shortage. It will be a rude awakening for many once we graduate.

The reason I'm in nursing school is because I want to help people and IT is not where I see myself long term. Yes, nursing will be a pay cut for me but I'm considering a few different options. One being to keep my current job for awhile and work part-time as a nurse to make sure changing fields entirely is really what I want to do. I think many people have the field of nursing glamorized (me being one of them) and I want to know for sure before making any permanent moves.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Union: Your co workers on the negotiating team negotiate the contract with management with union help. Your peers help decide what you will make. It is set in stone, so you can't negotiate your rate. It is what is is minus a dollar more or two for certification, BSN, etc

It doesn't matter if you were the VIP of some company with a PH.D. if you werent a nurse, it doesn't count.

Beware of working part time as a nurse. Check at your facility on what the contract says, or managment if you are a non union hospital. There are some facilities that will dock you years for working part time. Let's say you worked 6 yrs part time. When it comes to pay, they can and might try to pay you for only 3 yrs base rate. This is extreme part time though, like maybe one day a week. This happened to me a few other part time friends. I was able to negotiate that to my full years, as did my friends, but it wasn't easy. So....beware.