With all the changes in healthcare, management keeps telling us they need to cut back. They have cut back on staffing, supplies, support staff, benefits, raises, etc. Nurses are not getting breaks. New documentation is overwhelming, but our workload has increased. If we say anything, we are told, "we are lucky to have a job."
Has anyone else been through this? There are rumors about a union coming in. If they do, does it help?
I believe that unions are only as good as their members insist that they be. That being said, I agree that nursing could benefit from being unionized. Over the past two years I've seen an increasing disregard and lack of support for nurses. For example, floating to a med/surg unit and having 7 to 8 patients. The RN to patient ratio on our med/surg floor is not safe, the staffing matrix is ridiculous. Our "raise" this year, inspite of our hospitals success and reported increase in patient satisfaction and increase in business, was less than the cost of living. Meanwhile our managers are still receiving their bonuses based upon budget surplus. Nurses lack of voice/input with regards to supplies, software, pyxis changes. Where would one begin in order to promote unionization?
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I would contact the NNOC, the offshoot of the California Nurses Association. They are the only ones who have achieved staffing ratios, pensions you can actually retire one, with medical benefits, etc.
I would contact them asap.
In the meantime, if management gets wind that you are talking to a union, they will start to pick your work history apart to find, "something", to fire you for.
Get copies of all evaluations, any patient and /or, family letters, of appreciation, etc. You need ammunition in order to defend yourself, and for your attorney to defend you with.
This would be a really good time to get malpractice insurance, so you are ready to go on the offensive if needed.
What they FOUND was that you can spend more than you make for only so long.
Then everything collapses.
Could you explain further what you are saying?
I think that you are implying something with your reply, but I am not sure what and I am interested in knowing what else you are standing between the lines.
I am sure that is what the OP meant, just being a malcontent.
I am not sure what you mean, implying that I am a "malcontent". I was pointing out a basic truth, which seems to be all too often lost on many: That continued spending of more than one has will ultimately lead to economic collapse.
It is true for a single person, a family, a city, a company, a state, or a country.
Detroit is not the first entity to have learned this lesson, but it is certainly a huge entity currently in the news.
But I also have a sense of it being an indictment of detroit - a union town - and it's industries having overspent due to influence of the unions.
So I'm wondering if this is what the poster was implying.
On occasion, I have been accused of overthinking things...
The blame for Detroit's downfall is shared by many: management, unions, city planners and the populace. Each had a part in the short-sightedness and greed that ultimately killed the golden goose that was Detroit.
I wish more people here in the deep south would be open to unions. They are few and far between around here, and most nurses know nothing about them (in my area.) For some reason, "union" seems to be a dirty word in most southern cities.
That would probably be because of people who remember slashed tires, threats of violence, and actual violence done to those who opposed unions and their families.
Neonurse2012
3 Posts
I believe that unions are only as good as their members insist that they be. That being said, I agree that nursing could benefit from being unionized. Over the past two years I've seen an increasing disregard and lack of support for nurses. For example, floating to a med/surg unit and having 7 to 8 patients. The RN to patient ratio on our med/surg floor is not safe, the staffing matrix is ridiculous. Our "raise" this year, inspite of our hospitals success and reported increase in patient satisfaction and increase in business, was less than the cost of living. Meanwhile our managers are still receiving their bonuses based upon budget surplus. Nurses lack of voice/input with regards to supplies, software, pyxis changes. Where would one begin in order to promote unionization?