The solution to nursing problems

-jt · Oct 10, 2002

Union issues - just like everybodys elses - the thing is why dont have to take NO for an answer. The administration HAS to address our concerns & do something concrete about them & we have a say in what that will be. Union RNs are making their employers address staffing ratios, forced overtime, retention of experienced nurses, valuation & investment in the nursing staff, financial recognition for RN experience, education, certification, support for the new grad, benefits & compensation, flexible & self scheduling. Most of the time, the hospitals dont just agree on anything that is going to cost them money - we have to fight tooth & nail - all the up the labor chain sometimes - from meetings at the manager level, DON level, VP of Nursing level, to director of HR, to grievances, arbitrations & NLRB court, to strikes -just to make the facility we work in an "attractive" & safe place for nurses to want to work in & keep working in. It aint easy but we have labor laws behind us that allow us to speak out & make demands, & that obligate the employer to pay attention & take action. Still the employers make us run the gamut - even when they know they will lose - but the longer they drag their feet & move as slow as snails, the longer they can delay having to spend any money. Its a game they play & they all have the same script.

We're also writing the state laws that will force employers to rectify many of the workplace problems & will provide funding for many of the solutions, then lobbying for the passage of those state laws. And our employers are lobbying just as hard against them. Theres just too too much to tell in this thread. Come over to the Nursing Activism/Politics page on this website (use the pull down menu at the bottom of this page). Theres a thread titled ITS NOT HOPELESS https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23702

that has links to contracts that union nurses are negotiating & what solutions they are implementing & things they are getting changed in the workplace to improve the situation at their own facilitiies. Theres also a lot of info in many other threads & good discussion that can give you a much better idea.

PS

nurses in Utah recently unionized with the United American Nurses - the national RN union & labor arm of the ANA. They had their election & voted to become part of that union. As soon as they did, the hospital suddenly decided to call the nurses "supervisors" because they delegate to other workers, & immediately took them to court saying that since they were "supervisors", they could not be unionized. The hospital is asking the court to remove the RNs from their union. Nice, huh?

The ANA & UAN filed a counter suit for the nurses & will be fighting this to the max. In the meantime, the RNs technically are union now because they voted for it, but the hospital will not recognize them - and the court calendars are backed up. Still the RNs are determined that no ones dirty tricks are going to stop them from exercising their federal right to be a union & have an equal say in their workplace.

Theres an article about their situation in this months AJN.

FTell001 · Oct 10, 2002

Sadly..I don't think anything will work..but a show of force..ie. a walkout. As long as its NOT a union walkout...the President can't step in with the Taft-Hartley Act and demand you go back to work as he did with the dock workers in California. Those workers were unionized..and "walked".....knowing they were just striking and no one could take their jobs. I dont' think invoking the Taft Hartley Act was justified. It can ..(or rather..should) only be invoked if there is a threat to nations health.

NOW..if union nurses walked out..it could be invoked on them or they could be replaced with other nurses. The problem is.."where the heck would they get those nurses"????

On the other hand..if non union nurses walked out..it would be akin to "quitting" and the Taft Hartley Act could not MAKE you go back to work. You do have the right to QUIT! (even if it is only for a day or a week or whatever it took to get them to pay attention)

I don't think it would take long at all for them to pay attention!

There are not enough agency nurses to cross the picket line if one were initiated as was done in New York..(I think that is where all those strike breaking nurses made all that money a few years ago!)

Anyway....talking to management is not going to do it. We have all complained about the work load and conditions. Has it worked so far? Many of us have changed jobs to find it not any better at the new location. Many of us have just dropped out after realizing that its basically the same all over...and INTOLERABLE!

Just my .02 cents worth here...

mattsmom81 · Oct 10, 2002

I have to admit I DON'T know what it is going to take to get us to band together (I am speaking from a southern/ non-union state where I am currently...and very frustrated...since I trained in a union area) Other than threatening my hubby with a divorce unless he moves me BACK to a union state, I am without personal activist options in my current location.

All I know is I am dam tired of being encouraged by my peers to speak out...only to be abandoned come crunch time. Those of us who DO speak out down south end up branded 'troublemakers' while the rest of the nurses fade into the safety of the background. 'Group One' is a 'consumer credit' organization that collects dirt on nurses in my area; and distributes it to potential employers. The opinions of managers as to 'bad attitude' and 'troublemaking' seem to be protected....nurses who speak up are blackballed here.

Sadly, I must be out for myself for the remainder of MY career...I have kids to put through college and bills to be paid. And the sad thing is, this is where most nurses my age (mid 40's...the majority of nurses today) get to. We get tired of putting ourselves on the line' with zero support in the end ... by our peers AND those we have trained over the years. And for those who would criticize...I HAVE spoken out...over and over....to my own detriment.

Sorry...this is negative but it is my reality in the wonderful south.

I must now leave the fight to those younger and with more energy.

Keep up the good fight those of you just starting...and get ye to a union state if possible.

-jt · Oct 10, 2002

The same place they already get them when we strike --- the scab agencies. And unfortunately, there is no shortage of those & no shortage of RNs ready to jump at the chance to sign on with them either. For some RNs, it is the only kind of 'travel nursing' work they will do. How can anyone forget last year when RNs in 13 hospitals in St Paul/Minneapolis were going to strike all at the same time? Other RNs were scrambling all over the country to get up there for the strike pay. Reading anything they posted on this board alone at the time would tell you there is no way the majority of nurses are going to back each other up in any kind of event that they could bribed out of.

The problem is not where would the employers get the RNs to replace us -- they already know how to do that. The problem is how do WE get nurses to ALL stand UNITED? It is never going to happen. Instead of wasting time worrying about it, the rest of us just have to move ahead & do what we have to do without them.

ie: Mandatory OT for healthcare workers was outlawed by the governor last January in NJ. The RNs, their state nurses association & unions, the LPNs & healthcare workers, and their unions did not have a walk out to do it. They had a walk IN - right into their state Capitol.... and didnt let up on the legislature or governor until the law was signed. They said forget about talking to hospital management -- we're taking this to the top. Now the ban on forced ot in NJ is a state law. The employer cannot break the law. We need to get everything we can into our own state law.

ceecel.dee, MSN, RN · Oct 10, 2002

-jt hit the nail on the head.....How do we get all nurses to stand united?

rncountry · Oct 10, 2002

Aw, Julie I wondered how long it would be before we saw the invoking of the supervision thing. I hope to hell it is not successful because if it is than I would anticipate others jumping on that bandwagon.

We will never get all nurses together. But it is possible to get some nurses. Depends on how things are done. I just think that there has to be a way to reach more nurses than we currently do. And that takes money. Any takers out there will ideas?

RN-PA, RN · Oct 11, 2002

There's the biggest problem, IMHO. I'm tired of sticking my neck out, talking to management, speaking up at staff meetings about problems, encouraging co-workers to speak up and to not just gripe constantly about conditions and problems. I feel like the voice in the wilderness sometimes and I'm tired of it. What I've observed is many women are working part-time and have busy lives outside of work. Once they're away from work, they focus energy elsewhere and the work problems fade into the background until they come back to work again. They just don't care enough or have enough energy to unite, let alone, fight. Many I work with are very young, too, and fear authority or aren't very experienced in handling much conflict. Heck-- they're just trying to keep their heads above water in their jobs like all of us.

I once tried to get involved in a union forming at a hospital where I previously worked and we could get no momentum, again, because not enough nurses cared. Day shift was well-staffed and it often felt like we evening shifters were crashing a party when we'd arrive to the floor. They had few complaints so we could get no support from them.

On the 3-11 shift I work on our 65-bed Med/Surg unit, there's one RN and 1 LPN who are working full-time 8-hour shifts. The rest are 12-hr shifts (full-time), and lots of part-time and casual/pool nurses-- Many who pick up 4 hours here and there. I'm working with new nurses all the time and can barely keep up with learning names of the GN's, and other new hires. I think there are approximately 150 employees just for our floor and I can't even imagine how to unite the few I work with on a fairly regular basis. We barely have time to talk and exchange pleasantries each night let alone figuring out a strategy to improve conditions. I'm at the point where I'm trying to just focus on caring the best I can for my patients and trying to pull away from the politics and drama-- easier said than done, but better for my sanity and spirit.

ceecel.dee, MSN, RN · Oct 11, 2002

EVERYONE IS BUSY!

You never hear anyone say, "I've got oodles of spare time and will fight the fight for everyone that is too busy".

It's a matter of priorities. How important are these issues to you...really?

If everyone skipped one Friends re-run a week, and spent that 30 minutes on a united effort to better their profession....WOW could we make a difference!

RN-PA, RN · Oct 11, 2002

EVERYONE IS BUSY!
You never hear anyone say, "I've got oodles of spare time and will fight the fight for everyone that is too busy".
It's a matter of priorities. How important are these issues to you...really?
If everyone skipped one Friends re-run a week, and spent that 30 minutes on a united effort to better their profession....WOW could we make a difference!

Ceecel.dee is right and therein lies the problem that I stated in my post. People apparently don't care enough to DO something to try to change things-- they usually "vote with their feet" (quit), and so we will probably never make much headway. I think legislation is our only hope for changes and I recently signed a petition through PASNAP to help with nurse to patient ratios in PA. (See link below.)

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2002/07/01/focus3.html

-jt · Oct 12, 2002

Educate & inform.... inform & educate.

But you know what? Im at the point where it doesnt matter to me anymore if some nurses would rather complain than DO anything about the problem. If some cant (or wont) lift a finger to help themselves for whatever reason, so be it. Their uninvolvement (&/or apathy) does not make the rest of us ineffective.

Just because most RNs are not politically active or involved in nursing activism, doesnt mean we cant accomplish (or arent accomplishing) our goals. It just is a little harder & takes a bit longer than if there were more of us doing the work.

Sure it would be nice if there were more nurses out there who would, at the very least, send an email to their Congressman in support of some of the legislations that will help make a dent in a lot of the problems nurses are facing - but there arent - and still, the rest of us are getting those legislations passed one by one & state by state & getting the laws we need made.

As we go along like the-little-that-could, more nurses who are standing on the sidelines become educated & informed about how they can make a difference, & they start doing something - even if its just as simple as sending an email to their Congressman. They make a difference.

Youda · Oct 12, 2002

-jt, I agree with you in part. But, I think we have to also look at the psychology of this. Nurses have been hammered on for so many years, fighting against unfair admin practices and problems in their own facility or hospital. And that has resulted in nothing, except being labeled a "troublemaker" or whistle blower. It's hard to imagine a good outcome when all we've experienced is negative consequences to the efforts that we do make.

I'm going to liken this situation to spousal abuse, just because it makes an easy metaphor. A wife who is constantly beaten and threaten, begins to believe it's her fault, and after awhile buys into the idea that there is nothing she can do except try to appease her tormentor. She doesn't even realize that she can just open the door and walk away.

YES! Education is very important. But, part of that education is not jumping steps in the process. We have to first education nurses about how they SHOULD be treated before we can help them understand how to ACT. It's like the post on another thread about the nurse working through Hurricane Lili and security guards prevented her from leaving the hospital, make them sleep on the floor, refused to feed them or give them water, then also refused to pay them.

There wasn't anger there until other nurses jumped into the thread. There wasn't information about how these nurses SHOULD have been treated. The concept of hazard pay wasn't even imagined, because they had nothing!

I've posted payscales at allnurses, to make a point. An air traffic controller makes an average of $36/hr. The air traffic controller has the same high stress as a nurse, has the same responsibility for the lives of others, but is NOT required to have a post-secondary education or to be routinely exposed to hazardous materials and disease. So, shouldn't the average pay for a nurse be AT LEAST as high as an air traffic controller?

But, routinely we are grateful if we simply get the day off we requested three months ago, because we've been pounded, abused, so much that our expectations are too low. We don't compare ourselves with other professions. We don't demand routine time-and-a-have for weekend and holiday pay as EVERY other profession would get: ie; electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, executives. We think that just because nursing is a 24/7 job, that we don't DESERVE those kinds of benefits.

What about retirement plans. Check out any newspaper and most jobs, even at hamburger joints, offer 401K plans and matching employer contributions to retirement funds. How many nurses have that now? Why don't we have this?

This opportunity comes along only once every 15-20 years, when a nursing shortage forces some changes. These changes can't be at the corporate level, but at the legislative level, so corporations won't cut back in nursing care the next time they make a bad financial decision (see Karen's post on mergers).

-jt, I don't want anyone to give up. But, we have to become more supportive of each other before we can ACT together. We have to point out unfairness, and fight unfairness as a matter of our daily practice. We have to continue to fight for our patients. We have to take care of ourselves. We have to understand the dynamics of depression and burnout, so we can help each other out of the mire, so we have the energy to be ABLE to fight.

If I could propose anything, I would propose something that is easy for someone to do, out of respect for the crushing fatigue we all feel at the end of our shifts, and the families who still need us even though we have nothing left to give, something inexpensive because we don't have the money to donate. The answer isn't to struggle along with few numbers! The answer is to look at the NEEDS of nurses and design a protest or action that accommodates our limitations! How about a website? List the names, addresses and email addresses of these legislatures and senators. Give a place to post a message anonymously to certain workplaces, so a nurse's lifelihood isn't jeapordized by participation (and you and I both know for FACT that retaliation is a very real thing in this). Find what MOST nurses CAN do, and you'll have all the numbers you need.

What can I do to help?

-jt · Oct 12, 2002

I totally agree with you & Im going to separate pieces of your post to respond to.

First, your statement above. Yes. Its called "Battered Womans Syndrome". Brought to attention by the NYC Hedda Nussbaum child abuse case. Hedda was so oppressed & beaten by her violent husband for so long, that she stood by & did nothing while he did the same to their children - eventually killing one of them. During the trial, medical experts dx Hedda as suffering "Battered Womans Syndrome" - and was deemed to have been rendered INCAPABLE of taking any action to protect herself & her children because of it.

At an RN picket line a few yrs ago, I saw nurses carrying a sign that said "Our RNs Do Not Have Battered Womans Syndrome!".

Another RN was walking the line telling everyone "Let them understand - there are no Heddas here!".

I completely agree with you that too many RNs have a form of this affliction for the same reasons you gave - which is why I dont think that we can go from that to massive, proactive unity overnight & why trying to pull off something so severe as a coast to coast wildcat walkout - with all its risks to pts & RNs - would be an effort in futility. We cant expect RNs who have been where you describe for so long to all of the sudden be ready to do something so drastic. We have to recognize that before you can be an expert diver, you have to first step into the wading pool. Besides that, after the 24 hr walkout is over, everybody goes back to work & what was accomplished? Spending the energy & effort on getting the legislation we need would be more effective & have more long lasting, permanent effect.

>>>

Exactly. And every one of the State Nurses Associations already have days throughout the year where they rally at their state capitols. The association does all the work organizing it & getting it together & the members dues pay for stuff like this, but you dont have to be a member or even an RN to attend, participate, & support the issues for nurses & pts.

All people have to do is find out the day, & show up. Or if they cant get to their state capitol from where they live, they can send emails or phone calls to their legislators on that day telling the staff who we are, what the issues are, & why we need the legislator's support. And they could also make an appointment to see their rep in his local office in their own city soon after that day to keep the ball rolling. It makes an impact. And its inexmemberve enough. The legislators dont charge anything for the visit.

We have hundreds of thousands of RNs in NY state - but just 34,000 are members of our state association & only 500 showed up for our last state capitol legislative day. But hundreds more filed into their reps local offices in their own towns, sent them letters & phone calls --- & the bills we wrote like the one to ban mandatory ot & the one for safe staffing guidelines got sponsored by many of those legislators, were introduced, & are now in various stages of the legislature for passage into law. Thats also how we got the governor to pass our healthcare whistleblowers protection law this year after he rejected it for 4 yrs in a row. Hes up for re-election & all those RNs are potential votes.

>>

The website ALREADY exists - its the website of the American Nurses Association - and my membership dues help pay for it, but its free for all to use, so Im not about to try reinventing the wheel on that front. The info is there on its GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS page to give enough background for nurses to compose their own letters, cut & paste, or copy sample letters, click onto the link for their representatives email address, etc etc etc.

Click on the Fact Sheets in each topic under Legislative Activity at: http://nursingworld.org/gova/federal/gfederal.htm

and the Legislative issues state-wide at: http://nursingworld.org/gova/state.htm

View the info, then go to http://www.congress.org to email a legislator.

Also, on the home page of the ANA website, there is a legislations email alert that nurses can sign up to receive. It will send them automatic emails at the time Congress is considering one of nursings issues. The email will contain info on the issue & a sample letter already composed that the RN can then send off to her representative at the right time or compose her own using the info provided. Congress is already flooded by thousands of these all at once & paid attention. If we all sent one, with just the click of a wrist, we could make it hundreds of thousands.

Cant get much easier than that. And it doesnt cost non-members a dime.