Nurses crossing picket lines??

gwenith, BSN, RN · Jul 8, 2004

reminder debate the topic not the person

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jul 8, 2004

The cost of living in Hawaii is very high, and I'm sure the nurses wages reflect that.

And now, I'm done talking to you.

fergus51 · Jul 8, 2004

I still don't see the advice zenman... Think outside the box and ask for pizza? Anything more specific? You make it sound like you believe you know how to change things for the better, so what have you done specifically to do that? I don't think it's that you object to handing me answers, I think it's that you don't have them to give.

Personally, I am happy at my unionized workplace and I won't be going anywhere nonunion anytime in the future.

zenman · Jul 8, 2004

Thanks Aussie for opening back up.

Posted by Hellllllo Nurse: And now, I'm done talking to you.

Talk "with" me then and let's continue to work on "our" nursing problems. I have my experience and you have yours...and there are many others who can help. We have yet to come together as a group.

And any nurse that visits Oahu has a free place to stay. I'll be moving into a bigger place end of the month. You have to buy me a meal. Don't worry, I'm cheap! :rotfl:

zenman · Jul 8, 2004

Posted by Hellllllo Nurse: Exactly. This is why we need to unionize.

Fighting little battles all over the place is not why you need to unionize. You'll get nowhere.

Wow, you got pizza? Haven't we all? I've had plenty of freakin' pizza's from CEOs.

Missing the point? What are "you" doing to make your workplace a better place? Have you invited your hospital CEO to lunch, one-on-one? Do you know his/her daily battles, concerns. Have you asked him/her how you could help to make things better? If you want to fight a war, you must know as much as possible.

zenman · Jul 8, 2004

Posted by fergus51:You make it sound like you believe you know how to change things for the better, so what have you done specifically to do that? I don't think it's that you object to handing me answers, I think it's that you don't have them to give.

I don't have all the answers. If I told you what I thought would be the answer(s), I would just be attacked...as part of human nature. We can work on the answers, though. Let me give you a case. I was once a director of a large hospital-based home health agency. There were 200 people reporting to me and I reported to the hospital CEO. With this many people, most of them running around covering 50 counties, there is the potential for my pager to go off many times a day. Anytime one of my managers came to me with a problem, my answer was "why." After we worked through this, I asked them what three approaches did they see as workable. They picked one and they owned it, not me. They worked through problems on their own after that. My pager rarely went off. Our team was so successful that me and my Director of Operations were invited to Chicago to speak at a Industrial Engineer seminar on reengineering. I actually am a lazy guy with nothing but common sense; the people made it happen. The three directors before me lasted one year each. I lasted 2.5 years and was asked to leave after standing up to admin in defense of a gay guy.

fergus51 · Jul 8, 2004

I can appreciate that. I would be interested in hearing your ideas, in a pm if you don't want to post on this thread and I wouldn't attack you or discuss it with anyone.

I do like that type of management style btw. In my experience, people can often work out their own problems if they are given the power to do it. The key is they have to be given that power. I've had managers that wanted to decide EVERYTHING... I wondered if I was supposed to consult them before using the bathroom.... Notice the use of past tense there!

zenman · Jul 8, 2004

Posted earlier: Wow, you got pizza?

Shamans say the the world is as you dream it. After a short nap before my 12 hr shift, I went downstairs and my cute little blonde wife greeted me with, "I got some pizza for you!" Life is so sweet! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

zenman · Jul 8, 2004

Posted by fergus51: I can appreciate that. I would be interested in hearing your ideas, in a pm if you don't want to post on this thread and I wouldn't attack you or discuss it with anyone.

Let's just work on it together with as many as possible. No time tonight...place is full and it's nut's.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 8, 2004

I can justify my actions. I still want a professional nurse to tell me why they walked out on the very people they profess to help and call it justified. Let's see..."I'm sorry madam about your sick child, but I'll be out on the picket line tomorrow. Your child may die because I didn't arrange for any other nurses to come in and take care of him, but in the end it will be better for everyone in the future. I just don't know any other way to accomplish what we want.""
Yes, I enjoyed the money I made...$35 an hour (which was less than the $65 an hour I billed prior to coming here) and time and a half past 40. The traveling nurses were amazed at what the nurses were making here and many were asking, "What are they striking for?"
Before we talk about criminals, answer my question above.

Randy - I have taken the time to read much of this thread and really feel compelled to respond to this post. In my opinion, nurses strike for very good reasons. I am sorry, but I can not imagine a single mother (or father in my case) who needs to earn a salary, pay the bills and put food on the table, striking just because she (or he) is following the group. A nurse that goes on strike, takes this decision very seriously. For many nurses, we are passionate about the quality of care we provide our patients. Taking care of 7-8 patients on a busy med-surg unit is very dangerous. Many nurses feel that the only voice they have is the power of the union and the ability to strike. I can't imagine any nurse really wanting to take this action. I agree with you that striking may not be the answer and that as a large professional group, nurses have a lot more power than they realize. But, in our world today, unions do play a role in advocating for better working conditions and for better safety standards for the patient through the power of striking.

I think we need to really explore and discuss the fact that nurses go on strike because management does not listen. Patient's receiving poor care, nurses being forced to work mandatory overtime, declining benefits and the list goes on and on. Oh and Randy, I am aware of the reimbursement issues in health care. But, I have to agree with many of the posters .... perhaps if the CEO's of many of these hospitals added their bonuses back into the bottom-line, we might have a little more revenue to provide sufficient staff to provide safe care to the patients. In my local community (in Florida - before I moved to NC) - the CEO was making $650,000 a year and was about to receive a yearly bonus of $50,000 at the same time he had made the decision to cut more nursing positions at the hospital. The reason he made the $50,000 bonus was because he was running a "tight ship." What he was doing, was creating a hospital environment that was unsafe and placed nurses in very dangerous positions. And, to answer another question .... ball players are not paid by Medicare nor are their coaches .... so I do not think we are comparing apples to apples here. Certainly if the coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs was being paid by Medicare, his overall salary should reflect the declining reimbursement ..... much like a CEO's salary should reflect declining reimbursement. Seems strange to me that CEO wages and compensation packages are growing at the same time reimbursement is declining. ummm.

We can debate your perspective all day. However, I have to say that nurses need a voice out there. Perhaps the only voice the nurses feel they have is a union. Perhaps if the ANA was more proactive with the bedside RN, memberships would improve and then the ANA could be the real voice of the nurse - much like the AMA is for physicians. Whatever the case, I think most nurses take a strike action very serious. And, for most nurses, I am sure they worry about the patient's in the hospital as much as they worry about how they are going to feed their family during such a tramatic time. It is not easy at all.

One last point ..... you indicated that you had crossed the picket line to cover for nurses that were on strike and that you provided better care than they did. How can you make a valid and blanket statement like this? Were you aware of the working conditions before the strike? Many hospitals that go on strike have increased their staffing because of the media publicity. They want to come across as the victums. Are you aware of what the staffing ratios were prior to the strike and the challenges those nurses faced? I can assure you that the conditions were pretty bad for those men and women to leave their jobs, caring for their patients, to walk a picket line.

I think it is ok to have differing perspectives on issues, but I think it is important to respect the decisions of others. I struggle with the idea of striking, but I can certainly respect the decision a nurse on strike goes through to come to that conclusion.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jul 8, 2004

The only time I crossed picket lines is for the big bucks that I was getting, I like big bucks.

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 8, 2004

Randy - I have taken the time to read much of this thread and really feel compelled to respond to this post. In my opinion, nurses strike for very good reasons. I am sorry, but I can not imagine a single mother (or father in my case) who needs to earn a salary, pay the bills and put food on the table, striking just because she (or he) is following the group. A nurse that goes on strike, takes this decision very seriously. For many nurses, we are passionate about the quality of care we provide our patients. Taking care of 7-8 patients on a busy med-surg unit is very dangerous. Many nurses feel that the only voice they have is the power of the union and the ability to strike. I can't imagine any nurse really wanting to take this action. I agree with you that striking may not be the answer and that as a large professional group, nurses have a lot more power than they realize. But, in our world today, unions do play a role in advocating for better working conditions and for better safety standards for the patient through the power of striking.
I think we need to really explore and discuss the fact that nurses go on strike because management does not listen. Patient's receiving poor care, nurses being forced to work mandatory overtime, declining benefits and the list goes on and on. Oh and Randy, I am aware of the reimbursement issues in health care. But, I have to agree with many of the posters .... perhaps if the CEO's of many of these hospitals added their bonuses back into the bottom-line, we might have a little more revenue to provide sufficient staff to provide safe care to the patients. In my local community (in Florida - before I moved to NC) - the CEO was making $650,000 a year and was about to receive a yearly bonus of $50,000 at the same time he had made the decision to cut more nursing positions at the hospital. The reason he made the $50,000 bonus was because he was running a "tight ship." What he was doing, was creating a hospital environment that was unsafe and placed nurses in very dangerous positions. And, to answer another question .... ball players are not paid by Medicare nor are their coaches .... so I do not think we are comparing apples to apples here. Certainly if the coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs was being paid by Medicare, his overall salary should reflect the declining reimbursement ..... much like a CEO's salary should reflect declining reimbursement. Seems strange to me that CEO wages and compensation packages are growing at the same time reimbursement is declining. ummm.
We can debate your perspective all day. However, I have to say that nurses need a voice out there. Perhaps the only voice the nurses feel they have is a union. Perhaps if the ANA was more proactive with the bedside RN, memberships would improve and then the ANA could be the real voice of the nurse - much like the AMA is for physicians. Whatever the case, I think most nurses take a strike action very serious. And, for most nurses, I am sure they worry about the patient's in the hospital as much as they worry about how they are going to feed their family during such a tramatic time. It is not easy at all.
One last point ..... you indicated that you had crossed the picket line to cover for nurses that were on strike and that you provided better care than they did. How can you make a valid and blanket statement like this? Were you aware of the working conditions before the strike? Many hospitals that go on strike have increased their staffing because of the media publicity. They want to come across as the victums. Are you aware of what the staffing ratios were prior to the strike and the challenges those nurses faced? I can assure you that the conditions were pretty bad for those men and women to leave their jobs, caring for their patients, to walk a picket line.
I think it is ok to have differing perspectives on issues, but I think it is important to respect the decisions of others. I struggle with the idea of striking, but I can certainly respect the decision a nurse on strike goes through to come to that conclusion.

never mind. I just want to say well-said. I am through w/this thread. Have a good day everyone.