Nurses' Unions

[nursemike]

The topic of unionization has come up,lately, at work, and it got me wondering. So I'm hoping some of you nurses who are currently represented by unions could tell me what union you're with, and how your experience with it has been. I'm ambivalent about the whole idea, but that's a change from being pretty firmly opposed. Any feedback will be appreciated.

[burnoutward, BSN, RN]

This has been an interesting read up to this point. I grew up in WV, during the early part of the 20th century unions are what brought hope to coal miners. I believe they can do good but works better when a large group is organized together and willing to fight for what they believe in.

I am about to start working at a hospital on an oncology unit. I do not know if unions are allowed where I will be working, but I plan to join one anyways. I want to join a nurse union not for individual reasons but the profession as a whole needs to get organized TOGETHER instead of a little union here or there. I feel if we did that we could maybe make a point that we are serious as a profession that we want change all across the country. We want better staffing of licensed personnel, we want our future nurses to receive an education appropriate for preparing them for the workplace, we want hospitals to stop building new units when they cannot staff what is currently there, we don't want to go to work and risk our license all in the sake of corporate medicine.

So if you have any advice about CNA-NNOC, AFL-UNA, or SEIU (those are the only national unions I have found so far let me know if there is another) I want to join. Right now I think AFL-UNA looks the best due to its association with ANA.

To see change you have to be the change.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

I worked under the SEIU union while in a clinical setting. This clinic was directly attches to a hospital and the hospital was not under any union contract. FYI

[BiloxiRoseRN]

I have never seen a need for unions in all my years of nursing. I move to California (to be close to my grandbabies) and there are so many unionized hospitals in Los Angeles. I only want to work per diem and the union bitterness is so sad and unprofessional I may need to look elsewhere for employment. Nearly 24 years at this and it is so disheartening to think about strikes and dues and shop stewards. It is pure madness. I really want to be a nurse, care for those in need and teach the new ones the little tricks I have learned over the years but I am discouraged and may just retire. I even looked in to a job as a nursing instructor at a local college and they have a union too! I can't even refuse to pay the dues! California law requires that I pay money to a group of people I do not believe in, do not support!

[pickledpepperRN]

I have never seen a need for unions in all my years of nursing. I move to California (to be close to my grandbabies) and there are so many unionized hospitals in Los Angeles. I only want to work per diem and the union bitterness is so sad and unprofessional I may need to look elsewhere for employment. Nearly 24 years at this and it is so disheartening to think about strikes and dues and shop stewards. It is pure madness. I really want to be a nurse, care for those in need and teach the new ones the little tricks I have learned over the years but I am discouraged and may just retire. I even looked in to a job as a nursing instructor at a local college and they have a union too! I can't even refuse to pay the dues! California law requires that I pay money to a group of people I do not believe in, do not support!

It is very sad.

I worked at my Los Angeles hospital nearly 20 years without a need to unionize.

But I consider it more unprofessional to have to tell a family their loved one is dead and do post mortum care when the preventable death is caused my unsafe staffing than to go to the trouble of unionizing.

I think it is more professional to know that when I point oit the lack of working equipment or need for more staff management will not just automatically get rid of this "troublemaker". There is a contract and a process.

Sure I liked it years ago when we had a voice without a union.

But my hospital, like many, changed ownership. The new owners did not care about patient care. They proved their distain for nurses anf other productive caregivers by laying off nurses and pharmacists.

Then blamed those of us who were left when med errors doubled the following month.

I truly love my colleagues because WE do all we can to provide safe, effective, therapeutic care to our patients and loving compassion for them and their families.

[Simplepleasures]

I have never seen a need for unions in all my years of nursing. I move to California (to be close to my grandbabies) and there are so many unionized hospitals in Los Angeles. I only want to work per diem and the union bitterness is so sad and unprofessional I may need to look elsewhere for employment. Nearly 24 years at this and it is so disheartening to think about strikes and dues and shop stewards. It is pure madness. I really want to be a nurse, care for those in need and teach the new ones the little tricks I have learned over the years but I am discouraged and may just retire. I even looked in to a job as a nursing instructor at a local college and they have a union too! I can't even refuse to pay the dues! California law requires that I pay money to a group of people I do not believe in, do not support!

You have been VERY lucky to have never had use for a union. What would you do if you found yourself in the position in which you saw or heard or were required to do something illegal/unethical by your employer, then when you refused you were fired in retaliation? If a union were present at that facility this scenario most probably would NEVER had happened. I think that it is a BIG mistake to think that even an experienced , excellent nurse will be protected by her management in such situations. Where have you been nursing, sounds like Shangri-la. Nurses will never be able to practice their profession the way the Nurse Practice Act MANDATES us to unless the facility's owners and corporations are forced to do the right and ethical thing.

[lindarn]

You have been VERY lucky to have never had use for a union. What would you do if you found yourself in the position in which you saw or heard or were required to do something illegal/unethical by your employer, then when you refused you were fired in retaliation? If a union were present at that facility this scenario most probably would NEVER had happened. I think that it is a BIG mistake to think that even an experienced , excellent nurse will be protected by her management in such situations. Where have you been nursing, sounds like Shangri-la. Nurses will never be able to practice their profession the way the Nurse Practice Act MANDATES us to unless the facility's owners and corporations are forced to do the right and ethical thing.

Martyr marys need not apply to nursing school. The local convent will be happy to have you. Stay away from the nursing profession- we have enough problems to deal with. We don't need to have individuals who are willing to work us all to death, to fulfill some personal religous ideal/need.

I agree with ingelein 100%. A workplace that does not need unions is a fantasy, in every occupation, not just nursing. Look at what teachers have accomplished. They have teacher to student ratios. They can, and do, refuse more students. When a student in their classroom has some sort of a disability, and will need more of the teachers' time than the other students, that child is counted TWICE. In other words, if the student number allowed is 25, that child is counted twice, and only 23 students are allowed to enroll in the class. That is what teachers unions have done. Along with obtaining sabbiticals to obtain a higher degree (which is rewarded with a higher salary), a pension that one can actually retire on. How many nurses can say that? Not many.

And more importantly, they have a union who goes to bat for them, without question, even the situations where the teachers have been accused of sexual misconduct. It is the individials who make up the union who influence the results, power, and influence. Most nurses let their unions become corrupt, and heavily influenced by administration, and that is where the problems come from.They forget who put them in power, and who they represent. JMHO.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[Simplepleasures]

Martyr marys need not apply to nursing school. The local convent will be happy to have you. Stay away from the nursing profession- we have enough problems to deal with. We don't need to have individuals who are willing to work us all to death, to fulfill some personal religous ideal/need.

I agree with ingelein 100%. A workplace who does not need unions is a fantasy, in evey occupation, not just nursing. Look at what teachers have accomplished. They have teacher to student ratios. They can, and do, refuse more students. When a student in their classroom has some sort of s disability, and will need more of the teachers' time than the other students, that child is counted TWICE. In other words, if the student number allowed is 25, that child is counted twice, and only 23 students are allowed to enroll in the class. That is what teachers unions have done. Along with obtaining sabbiticals, to obtain a higher degree (which is rewarded with a higher salary), a pension that one can actually retire on. How many nurses can say that? Not many.

And more importantly, they have a union who goes to bat for them, without question, even the situations where the teachers have been accused of sexual misconduct. It is the individials who make up the union who influence the results, power, and influence. Most nurses let their unions become corrupt, and heavily influenced by administration, and that is where the problems come from.They forget who put them in power, and who they represent. JMHO.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

YES!!! Hoorah for teachers, why has it taken us so long as nurses to have a STRONG, NATION WIDE union? Isnt it about time we dropped the little subservient "nursie" persona? Look at where its gotton us.

[Xbox Live Addict]

I have never seen a need for unions in all my years of nursing. I move to California (to be close to my grandbabies) and there are so many unionized hospitals in Los Angeles. I only want to work per diem and the union bitterness is so sad and unprofessional I may need to look elsewhere for employment. Nearly 24 years at this and it is so disheartening to think about strikes and dues and shop stewards. It is pure madness. I really want to be a nurse, care for those in need and teach the new ones the little tricks I have learned over the years but I am discouraged and may just retire. I even looked in to a job as a nursing instructor at a local college and they have a union too! I can't even refuse to pay the dues! California law requires that I pay money to a group of people I do not believe in, do not support!

Well, in right-to-work states, such as the one I live in, you don't have to pay union dues. There are also no unions, as "right-to-work" legislation effectively castrates labor unions. Those workers who would love to have the resources of a union to protect them have that choice taken away frm them. How can you unionize when you can't get everyone on the same page? Incidentally, we have one of the worst nurse-to-patient ratios in the country and are among the lowest-paid nurses in the country. We are one of the most medically uninsured states in the country. This applies to workers across the entire spectrum of employment here, not just nurses. My state is plagued with "rural flight," in which so many of our young people get educations and promptly leave for better opportunities elsewhere. When right-to-work passed here some years ago, our governor went on TV and proudly proclaimed that Oklahoma "is open for business!" Have we had any major businesses take root here? No! The gross domestic product of California, a union-friendly state, is 16 times higher than that of right-to-work Oklahoma, even though the population is "only" 10x higher.

"Union bitterness", you say? Well, I got plenty of bitterness dealing with employers over the years where I had no leverage with regards to salary or safe work assignments. I'd have loved to have a union representative to step in when I was left with unsafe patient assignments and unsafe staffing for which I would be held responsible if anything went sour.

Conditions like these eventually led me to leave in-patient nursing care forever, and I am spending the rest of my nursing career in out-patient work, where I have fewer hassles, better working conditions, better benefits, and better pay.

[pickledpepperRN]

I think it is pure madness that in my home state of Oklahoma patients suffer needlessly.

Both the planned poor staffing and loss of fine nurses from inpatient hospitals.

Why do the truly good, kind, nice, caring people of Oklahoma let this go on?

[Xbox Live Addict]

I think it is pure madness that in my home state of Oklahoma patients suffer needlessly.

Both the planned poor staffing and loss of fine nurses from inpatient hospitals.

Why do the truly good, kind, nice, caring people of Oklahoma let this go on?

The following little blurb might shed some light on this...

Interestingly, the Right To Work bill had the support of then-governor Frank Keating, and the propaganda in favor of the bill told Oklahomans that they wouldn't be forced to give up part of their salaries to corrupt unions, and that lack of unionization would make Oklahoma more attractive to businesses and bring in high-paying jobs.

What such ads didn't tell you was that non-unionization is more attractive for certain businesses because then there is no one to act as a "watchdog" on behalf of the workers to make sure they're getting equitable treatment from management, or that most Oklahomans didn't pay union dues anyway. And since the state's PTB were so in favor of RTW, the voice of the opposition was largely drowned out, largely limited to bumper stickers saying "Right To Work is a Rip-Off." So RTW passed by a landslide. I voted against it, but nobody asked me.

And so, in the words of The Honorable Frank Keating, Oklahoma was "open for business!" Interestingly, the GM plant in Midwest City closed last year.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Right to work=right to work for less.

That said there are studies out there that show that unionized hospitals are higher quality in general than nonunion hospitals.

The social data shows that union friendly states have better economies, health care outcomes, better educational systems and higher HS graduation rates.

As for me I am a union man.

[I love my cat!]

I have worked both.

I was paid better wages at the Union Hospital. Oh, and I actually got paid for every minute I worked. None of this clocking out and then "finishing up a few papers' at the end of the shift. When we clocked out, we were outta there. A few years ago, the managers at the Non-Union hospital accessed the electronic time cards and altered the OT. They were finally reported and an investigation was conducted. A a result, the hospital had to pay out a boat-load of back-pay.

I also noticed the difference in the way that the hospitals treated those injured on the job. Injured Nurses in the Non-Union hospital had to really fight for the adequate and fair treatment that they deserved (time off, medical expenses, disability, etc.). The Union Hospitals didn't seem to hassle the injured employee as much.

I guess I am a bit paranoid after all of the horror stories I have heard from injured workers. I have taken out my own disability coverage. I do not want to rely on a hospital in a time of crisis.

Oh, and I LOVE the term Martyr Mary from the previous post! LOL!