Hiring for strike

Nurses Union

Published

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/hea/2345683517.html

Just saw this pop up on my screen, sheesh.

We have a confluence of things happening right now:

1. Empoyers around the country attempting to take advantage of the weak economy to roll back pay and benefits for nurses, even when the employers are perfectly healthy financially.

2. Nurses around the country coming together in strong and aggressive unions (mostly NNU and its affiliates) that aren't about to stand for giving back wages and benefits they've fought for.

3. A weak economy creating a fairly large pool of unemployed nurses who are desperate for work, and unfortunately all too willing to betray their fellow nurses by crossing picket lines.

Bottom line: I suspect we'll see a lot more ads like this.

Am not union but out of curiosity I checked out the website and now almost wish I hadn't. Give them their due; they don't appear to discriminate.

We have a confluence of things happening right now:

1. Empoyers around the country attempting to take advantage of the weak economy to roll back pay and benefits for nurses, even when the employers are perfectly healthy financially.

2. Nurses around the country coming together in strong and aggressive unions (mostly NNU and its affiliates) that aren't about to stand for giving back wages and benefits they've fought for.

3. A weak economy creating a fairly large pool of unemployed nurses who are desperate for work, and unfortunately all too willing to betray their fellow nurses by crossing picket lines.

Bottom line: I suspect we'll see a lot more ads like this.

Do you know if these types of companies are using foreign nurses as temp workers? If so I'd be curious as to who is paying for their healthcare.

I don't think there's much use of foreign nurses in strike replacement. The nurses who do this come from all over the US of course, but the great majority are from the deep south, where there are few unions, wages are very low and the nurses need money enough to leave their homes and families for this kind of work.

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

I try to avoid using the word never. Too many times I've had to eat my words. Crossing a picket line, related to a labor dispute, is something I don't think I could bring myself to do.

I hope I'm never poor enough, hungry enough, or desperate enough to betray another person.

I don't think there's much use of foreign nurses in strike replacement. The nurses who do this come from all over the US of course, but the great majority are from the deep south, where there are few unions, wages are very low and the nurses need money enough to leave their homes and families for this kind of work.

Do you work in the "South"? If you don't, then please save me the union rhetoric and dispariging comments about nurses from the "South"! Few unions, yes. Low wages, NOT! We, southern nurses, are just smart enough to live in an area that has a decent cost of living and decent employment. As a NP, I make more than most entry level pediatricians. YOu need to stick to what you know, not what you think you know....

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Do you know if these types of companies are using foreign nurses as temp workers? If so I'd be curious as to who is paying for their healthcare.

Please review the HUGE number of threads on this BB regarding retrogression, and the extreme difficulty of immigrating and legally working in this country as a nurse. It is truly a grueling process that in most cases takes years.

Nursing in a major teaching facility is not like housekeeping or picking produce - one has to prove identity, qualifications repeatedly to work there. And for agency, there are background checks, and credential checks. It would be impossible to hire large numbers of H1b holders for a strike, given that immigration for nurses currently almost at a standstill.

But of note, the pay rate is not that good, given standard pay rates for Boston.

Do you work in the "South"? If you don't, then please save me the union rhetoric and dispariging comments about nurses from the "South"! Few unions, yes. Low wages, NOT! We, southern nurses, are just smart enough to live in an area that has a decent cost of living and decent employment. As a NP, I make more than most entry level pediatricians. YOu need to stick to what you know, not what you think you know....

Er...wow. I'm not union but that was so rude I decided to spend the entire 5 minutes it took to see if I could find citations for you.

1. Nursing hourly rates by state

http://www.registerednursern.com/registered-nurse-rn-salary-pay-wages-and-income-of-registered-nurses/

Not looking good for you. With noted exception of Florida and Texas they appear to be at about 23-27 and hour. Thats about what it is in South Dakota and Iowa. Er, and don't Texas and Florida have a lot of unionized hospitals.

2. Your claims of the south having low unemployment rates were also way off - to say the least.

From Bls.gov (that would be the bureau of labor and statistics) , as of March 2011, the five states with the LOWEST unemployment rates cited. not one of them is in the south (much less deep south).

North Dakota

Nebraska

South Dkota

New Hampshire

Vermont

(*Note that only one southern state makes the top 10 of lowest unemployment rates - Virginia - hardly a bastion of deep south culture- and Hawaii -the Presidents home state beat it at #8. Hilarious really.

Meanwhile the states with the HIGHEST unemployment rates approaching or exceeding double digits - a full 60% of the list are in fact in the deep south.:lol2:

State Southern State

------------------ ---------------------

North Carolina X

South Carolina X

Georgia X

Oregon

Kentucky X

Mississippi X

Michigan

Rhode Island

Florida X

California

Nevada

My conclusion is you should follow your own advice.

Ps - So... did you have anything resembling a credible citation to prove your claim of NP salaries being above pediatricians out your way? Or was that pulled out of your... hat too?:jester:

Er...wow. I'm not union but that was so rude I decided to spend the entire 5 minutes it took to see if I could find citations for you.

1. Nursing hourly rates by state

http://www.registerednursern.com/registered-nurse-rn-salary-pay-wages-and-income-of-registered-nurses/

Not looking good for you. With noted exception of Florida and Texas they appear to be at about 23-27 and hour. Thats about what it is in South Dakota and Iowa. Er, and don't Texas and Florida have a lot of unionized hospitals.

2. Your claims of the south having low unemployment rates were also way off - to say the least.

From Bls.gov (that would be the bureau of labor and statistics) , as of March 2011, the five states with the LOWEST unemployment rates cited. not one of them is in the south (much less deep south).

North Dakota

Nebraska

South Dkota

New Hampshire

Vermont

(*Note that only one southern state makes the top 10 of lowest unemployment rates - Virginia - hardly a bastion of deep south culture- and Hawaii -the Presidents home state beat it at #8. Hilarious really.

Meanwhile the states with the HIGHEST unemployment rates approaching or exceeding double digits - a full 60% of the list are in fact in the deep south.:lol2:

State Southern State

------------------ ---------------------

North Carolina X

South Carolina X

Georgia X

Oregon

Kentucky X

Mississippi X

Michigan

Rhode Island

Florida X

California

Nevada

My conclusion is you should follow your own advice.

Ps - So... did you have anything resembling a credible citation to prove your claim of NP salaries being above pediatricians out your way? Or was that pulled out of your... hat too?:jester:

Would you like to see my pay stub?? Additionally, you should stick to what you know....there are very few, less than 10 hospitals that are unionized. You have such great information. Where did I say anything about unemployment? After many years in this business, I know of no one who works strike hospitals. So in conclusion, YOU should think before posting your poor information. Care to pm me, I'll show you how much a PNP makes here:yeah:

This is Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The nurses are scheduled to go on strike this coming week if demands (non-financial) are not met. The issue is forced overtime, forced transfer of nurses to departments for which they do not specialize and patient/nurse ratios.

Would you like to see my pay stub?? Additionally, you should stick to what you know....there are very few, less than 10 hospitals that are unionized. You have such great information. Where did I say anything about unemployment? After many years in this business, I know of no one who works strike hospitals. So in conclusion, YOU should think before posting your poor information. Care to pm me, I'll show you how much a PNP makes here:yeah:

1. 10 hospitals unionized would have a significant impact on surrounding hospitals who want to keep their skilled staff and also are afraid of the unions knocking on their door and being invited in.

2. You said and attributed to all nurses in the south that you knew how to pick places with low costs of living and high availability of jobs. Being from the south myself I knew that a) anywhere with a high number of jobs in the south does NOT have a low cost of living and b) that the south has much higher unemployment rates than much of the country. And I proved it - unlike you.

3. You knowing someone who works for a unionized hospital or not has nothing to do with the price of tea in London, obviously. In scientific circles that's known as "anecodotal" and is rightfully considered worthless.

4. Actually I provided citation information indisputably demonstrating that at least 2 of your 3 claims were false. That doesn't leave much confidence in the third, for me at least.

5. Of course I don't want to see your paystub. First, I would have no way of verifying its yours. Second, you're entitled to your privacy and finally, in what way in the name of abandoned logic would that do to prove your claim without also seeing the paystub of the Pediatricians in your area? Of course it wouldn't.

If you're well-compensated then I'm sincerely happy for you. I believe NP's should be well-compensated. You are entitled to believe whatever gets you through the night and those beliefs may in fact be best for you.

But things get stickier when you are insulting others - particularly when they were correct and your claims were either flat out wrong or unsubstantiable.

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