Just when I thought our management couldn't get any more pathetic. Well, they have pushed the envelope even further.
At the begining of December the dietary manager decided (without notice) that the meal times during the day were going to change. Staff were not going to be served a full hot meal until after 12:30 pm, after the residents have all eaten their lunch. However, there are two categories of workers that usually have their lunch earlier which is 10:45 am and 11:15 am. They are the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides. For these workers they will only be entitled to have hot soup and a sandwich.
Well this didn't sit too well with these workers. So they decided on their own to change their lunch times in order for them to have the same full hot meal options that the rest of the workers were having in the building. Well the Director of Nursing got wind of this and she was not impressed. She ordered the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides to go back to their previous meal times and any change in staff meal times must go through proper channels and put to a vote with the union.
I have since filed a descrimination grievance and nothing will be looked into until after the first week of January. However, with this particular union's lousy track record of not wanting to hold the employer accountable on anything, I'm not holding my breath. So for over a month the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides will be served the equivalant of a soup kitchen at lunch time, even though their shift starts the same time as other departments (including the R.N.'s) in the building and will be treated as second class health care workers. This has created enourmous amounts of unnecesary tenstion through out the building.
Just want to mention, from the OP's original post it sounds as if the facility provides meals to the employees. The OP doesn't make it clear that these meals must be purchased. People are responding to the first post.
My Canadian and union hospital provides a meal voucher for any overtime worked after your regular shift. So, if you can't use it due to the foodcourt being closed you can use it the next time you work.
Re - reading the whole thread. Forgive me if I'm wrong - but do people just log on, read the first part and then make a comment regardless of the thread progress? That's not just bizarre - but it seems ignorant and that the posters are more interested in giving their opinion than actually supporting or responding to the person and their issues as they are developed.
Re - Canadaian/Australian unions/rights - I agree that it seems there is a huge difference in how these two country's unions function in support of their members. My guess would be American unions and their leaders suffer the same fat-cat mentality that most capitalist 'businesses' do and there are much less demands made by American nurses. Again, correct me if I am wrong - but you pay to be a member of a union that represents YOUR nursing employment issues - or is it just for the privilege of tagging along while the union determines what is of interest to them?
Re - night shift - even with our free meals we had this problem and night shift were provided a meal to be re-heated. It wasn't enjoyable so after some negotiation there was an agreement to pay the night staff a meal allowance.
Re - reading the whole thread. Forgive me if I'm wrong - but do people just log on, read the first part and then make a comment regardless of the thread progress? That's not just bizarre - but it seems ignorant and that the posters are more interested in giving their opinion than actually supporting or responding to the person and their issues as they are developed.
Ya, I am guilty of the above.
I am one of those "ignorant & bizarre" members that will (often, but not always) read and reply to the ORIGINAL post in a thread. I feel that there is nothing wrong with answering and commenting on the first post in a thread because I have found that is usually the main topic of the thread.
And honestly, I do not have the time or the patience to wade through hundreds of posts that often evolve with a topic. Arguments start, people become "offended", people start commenting on the weather, etc.....I can't keep up with it. Don't get me wrong, if a thread is evolving and remains OT, I will read it, but usually, the original concern/comment/question gets lost. Many of the posts start to wander or they purely OT from the original post.
Some threads get pretty long and not all the comments are riveting. Yes, people respond to the original post and the problem it presents without reading every single solitary post. I don't think that's ignorant.
People come here to relax and for enjoyment, what's wrong with that? This is light entertainment.
Re - Canadaian/Australian unions/rights - I agree that it seems there is a huge difference in how these two country's unions function in support of their members. My guess would be American unions and their leaders suffer the same fat-cat mentality that most capitalist 'businesses' do and there are much less demands made by American nurses. Again, correct me if I am wrong - but you pay to be a member of a union that represents YOUR nursing employment issues - or is it just for the privilege of tagging along while the union determines what is of interest to them?
Most American nurses are not unionized. Are there great unions in this country that work in partnership with employers to benefit all? Yes. Are there unions in this country with fat cat mentalities? Yes. Unions reflect the people who belong to them and work for them. People who choose to do nothing but complain about their unions find themselves in these unhappy situations. The irony is, it's not people like the OP -- people who stand up for themselves -- who need unions. It's the people who complaint that they don't get benefits -- but who don't stand up for themselves, either -- who do.
Given the economic conditions that lie ahead, I fear this is something many nurses will learn the hard way. And before critics turn up the flames, I ask that you please consider what you are guaranteed to get for a raise next year, what your guaranteed health benefits will be, and under what conditions you'll be guaranteed turn-around pay. You might not like the OP's complaint, but her employer has legally guaranteed the conditions of her labor, employment, and payment, and she expects that agreement to be honored just as she honors it with her labor every day. Can you say the same of the company you work for?
I have eaten my supper while I passed meds, sometimes I have not been able to leave the floor to grab my lunch from staff fridge. Every nurse I work with has experienced the same. Enjoy your soup and sandwich.
My union is worse than useless! Negotiated contracts(on which we always lose something), are not honored and nothing is done about it! I am sorry, I need my union dues in my pocket, more than this half a$$ed group does. It doesn't matter who says what, they are terrible! Positions are being eliminated, staffing is horrible, and I am not paid what I could've been paid at other hospitals. I work, where I work because I liked the people-otherwise it would never have happened!
Unions had their place, but as we see with the car industry...police...and others we lose when others make money for sometimes not working, getting paid forever for others, and the ability to work o/t for a few years and retiring with huge amounts. This also goes for unused time off-obviously if it couldn't be used...itoo much was given!
NJ in particular suffers from one of the highest property taxes due to government workers unions draining us dry, this includes fire, police, and especially the schools. While I agree some teachers should be paid well, there is no measure on their productivity and I resent paying them six figures and a great retirement.
So sorry for the union rant....I still say they are lucky to be able to eat at a scheduled time and always know they will get it. For the rest of us, we can't just walk off the floor. Somehow I don't even think the union nurses with "great" environments would appreciate the whistle blowing while they were having an MI! "Oh too bad, got to get my cup of Joe....do you think you can hang for 15?"
For the rest of us, we can't just walk off the floor. Somehow I don't even think the union nurses with "great" environments would appreciate the whistle blowing while they were having an MI! "Oh too bad, got to get my cup of Joe....do you think you can hang for 15?"
I understand the sentiment - and I am equally aggravated that the only consequence of nurses taking action seems to be patients suffer. But that didn't stop the Victorian nurses in Australia back in 1986...
Dedication doesn’t pay the rent!
The 1986 Victorian nurses’ strike
LIZ ROSS
This chapter is based on my own direct involvement with the strike. An earlier version appeared as ‘Sisters are Doing It for Themselves ... and Us’, Hecate, vol XIII (1) 1987, later reprinted as a pamphlet, Dedication Doesn’t Pay the Rent!, Socialist Action, 1987.
Nurses are often seen as the archetypal ‘handmaidens’ of men. Yet if there was ever an experience that demolished this image, it was the Victorian nurses’ strike of 1986, in which a predominantly female workforce took on and defeated the State Labor government.
Nurses’ militancy stemmed from two different kinds of experiences. The first was of working within the system, taking part in government reviews, lobbying and having high level meetings with the health minister ¾ and getting nowhere. Hospital waiting lists in Victoria reached 27,000 before the strike, and the Cain Labor government had cut the health budget, in real terms, every year since 1982-83. The toll on nurses was disastrous: they topped the 1986 compensation claims. 10,000 left nursing in 1985, and a further 8000 did not renew their practicing certificates, leaving the State with a shortfall of about 14,000 nurses.
The second, over the decade or so before the strike, was of going outside the system, taking direct action.
Victorian nurses strike for fifty days in response to lack of action by the government in securing their award conditions. It is the longest strike by women in Australia since the nineteenth-century Tailoresses' strike. Threatened with dismissal, criminal charges, the use of the Essential Services Act, and even police action to disrupt picket lines, the nurses remain on strike and achieve "career structure" reforms.
Many CNAs don't feel valued often. Their's is a low paid job with little respect for what they do. LPNs sometimes feel that way as well. Although it is indeed a 'little thing' in comparison, it is often the sum total of 'little things' that lead you to feel a valued member of your organization. Think how often a simple acknowledgement from a patient or management makes a difference in your day. I wouldn't be surprised if this slight no matter how small, leads to staff turnover. I think that if they are smart, they will either offer to change the times for lunch, return to their previous menu, or yes- only offer a 'soup and sandwich' plan for everybody. My .
That's kinda what struck me about the OP, too. If anything, it would make sense to me to make sure those whose work tends to be more physical get a good meal.
I would also like to commend all who've advised the OP to quit whining on yet another outstanding display of nursing unity. Way to go, team.
I understand the sentiment - and I am equally aggravated that the only consequence of nurses taking action seems to be patients suffer. But that didn't stop the Victorian nurses in Australia back in 1986...
My reading skills are going downhill, fast. On the first reading, I took this to be a strike by nurses in the days of Florence Nightengale (i.e. Victorian era, or thereabouts.) Guess I should be happy it wasn't in British Columbia (BC). I'd have been picturing a bunch of pickets wearing mastodon furs, or something.
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RNKel, ASN, RN
205 Posts
Just want to mention, from the OP's original post it sounds as if the facility provides meals to the employees. The OP doesn't make it clear that these meals must be purchased. People are responding to the first post.
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BINGO.