This Should Make You Feel Good About How Much $$$ You Make

Diary/Dairy, RN · Jul 6, 2007

Well, I already felt bad about my christmas bonus!! My ex-husband's best friend sells video games for a living. He got an all-expenses-paid 3 day cruise to the Bahamas for him and his wife for his Christmas bonus - I got a $20 gift card to Kroger!!!

I bought Velveeta with my bonus for a party - at least, I enjoyed it!!!

He and his wife hated the entire cruise!!!

It's all about attitude!

Salesman217 · Mar 30, 2008

This from the Cleveland Plain Dealer (LINK)

Q. How much do auto workers make, and do strikers lose their pay?

A. The average UAW member makes $1,155 per week. Yes, strikers lose their paychecks, but they receive $200 per week from the union's strike fund, which stands at about $900 million nationwide, funded by union dues. The union also pays strikers' medical expenses, but dental and vision coverage are suspended.

$1155/wk = $60k/yr, I'm not impressed. I know all the stories about auto workers making $100k and they always mention WITH OVERTIME. I know of many nurses doing the same. My 60 year old aunt is one of them.

Just like auto workers, nurses are always complaining about the pay. I don't get it. I got $22.50 to start. If I work 60 hours per week I make $85,000. And this for 20 months of schooling? I'll take it.

American auto workers are at the top of Adam Smith's hit list. He's sending their jobs to all those willing workers around the world who would do 4 times the work for 1/4 the money. The only question is what's taking him so long.

As for us nurses, when it comes to money, we'd better make hay while the sun is shining. From what I hear, it has not always been this good, and from what EVERYBODY knows about economics, it will not stay this way forever. When schools like my alma mater Bryant and Stratton (historically, an overpriced career college) and DeVry (historically overpriced tech school who bought Deaconess College of Nursing and renamed it Chamberlain) getting into nursing education the market will eventually be saturated with new nurses.

The "nursing shortage" that people are always talking about is what's keeping us well paid (yes we are well paid). As more schools add Associate RN programs the nursing shortage will evaporate and our bosses will start to be alot meaner.

Again, stop whining and make hay while the sun is shining.

Ayvah, RN · Mar 30, 2008

Salesman - ever wonder why there is a nursing "shortage"?

That will give you your answer as to why many nurses are unhappy with their salary

Also, compare the responsibilities of an auto worker to a nurse.

Salesman217 · Mar 30, 2008

Salesman - ever wonder why there is a nursing "shortage"?
That will give you your answer as to why many nurses are unhappy with their salary
Also, compare the responsibilities of an auto worker to a nurse.

There's a doctor shortage, too (hence the use of Doc "extenders" like NPs according to a MICU nurse manager at CCF). Is it because of salary? Sure. And salaries will go up as the shortage grows. Or cheap labor will flood in from other countries like with Philipino nurses.

Personally, I think the nursing shortage is based on the cultural idea that nursing is women's work. Florence Nightengale deliberately promoted the idea as she sought to create a profession that society would allow women to pursue in less enlightened times. Society bought the idea hook, line, and sinker and actively restricted men from pursuing nursing, not only in general society, but also in the military.

Heck, in the UK nurses are still called sisters! How about that! A male nurse calling himself a sister!

Now I'm not complaining about that. God knows that women have gotten the short end of the stick forever, but just as it relates to the nursing shortage, if society cultural script didn't say in BIG BOLD LETTERS that "nursing is women's work", there'd be a whole lot more nurses...

And the pay would be worse.

BTW, why, with so few male nurses, are there so many male CRNAs? By my calculations, a male nurse is 15 times more likely to go CRNA than his female counterpart.

Ultimately, although everyone complains that they are not getting paid enough (again, look at autoworkers, though I believe they have been brain washed by union leaders) but I think nurses complain so much because they are predominantly women. It's they're nature. (And now I shall duck) :uhoh21:

One more thing. I love the basketball player argument. You've got the top 400 or so at their thing IN THE WHOLE WORLD and people wonder why they make so much money. People pay to watch excellence and have a viarous experience (WE won!!!). Those guys generate revenue. They arte worth every penny they get because WE pay them by watching them on TV and going to the games.

The money nurses are paid are what the market will bear. Some docs complain that CRNAs make too much. It's what the market will bear. My hospital gives students $10,000 in pocket WHILE THEY'RE WAS STILL IN SCHOOL (for a two year work commitment at the same rate as everyone else). It's what the market will bear.

Underpaid? Overworked? Please. Then go do something with less responsibility for more money. If I could, I would, but for me, right now, with what I know how to do, this is the best deal going. And I, for one, am GRATEFUL to have the opportunity.

Cleveland cops make about what nurses make. No way in hell I drive around the city of cleveland with a gun on my hip and a target on my back for $45-60K per year. Give me nursing every day of the week.

PiPhi2004 · Jul 13, 2008

Personally, I think the nursing shortage is based on the cultural idea that nursing is women's work.

Really now? I am taking it that you are a male and havent worked very hard or very long. I dont think there is a shortage because we have a small number of people going into programs, they are churning them out left and right. Many schools have 2-3 yr wait lists and you need basically a 4.0 to get in!!!! Shortage?!? Please!!! There is NOT a shortage of nurses (male OR female), theres a shortage of people willing to work for poor wages and in bad and unsafe conditions. Many new grads are ready to run for the hills after a year of this junk! I think the idea that nursing is 'womens work' while I believe that perception from the general public is correct, is irrelevant to why there is a shortage. We do have great job security. We always will. That is one of the basic reasons I'm doing what I'm doing. I know that no matter what, I will have a job. I had a father who was laid off from the coal mines when I was a child and we lived on welfare for a few years. The job security is EXTREMELY important to me just from my life experiences. Personally I'd rather have that than a huge wage but I refuse to believe that we are paid sufficiently for the amount of responsibility I have, ESPECIALLY when we have the upper hand and could easily change our wage rather than complaining about it, but thats a whole other story...

AMRN12 · Jul 13, 2008

This is precisely what I have been trying to factor.......For example, I am attempting to understand this new travel company that i am negoitating with presentation of :

We offer the Tax Advantage Plan!

$36.00 per hour

They do not pay housing....$300. out of my pay per week

They do not pay for travel...however, I will get $250. gas card one way.

This company...according to recruiter, pays better than companies that pay for housing, travel, rentalcars ect.....

Despite this mantra......I am still not getting it.....I have worked for travel assignments that have paid for my housing, flight, and rental car...while still making $33 per hour in Ca. However, this is for an assignment in Tenn. While I understand this area does not typically pay the national average.....why is this company muddying the water under this ""Tax Advantage Plan"?????? Or better not to ask why but to ask....what is the actual per-diem rate for Johnson Tenn?????

ThatPoshGirl · Jul 13, 2008

Did she really say "average"? She's such a hack. "Average" is meaningless without supporting data. What kind of average? Who was included in the average? What's the standard deviation? How much deviation is there from the "average" to the lowest and highest wage?

Freedom42 · Jul 13, 2008

This is an old thread -- but obviously a provocative one. For the record, CBS published a story in February 2008 that said the average wage for Ford employees before it bought out 16,000 jobs was $28 an hour, not $65. Workers hired after the buyout could expect to earn $14.

Here's a link.

Yes, I realize the $14 an hour probably doesn't include benefits. But I'd be surprised if Ford offers a benefits package to hourly workers that is more than 3.5 times the base wage.

Noryn · Jul 13, 2008

I have heard of the huge salaries they make but also aware of mass layoffs that have plagued these jobs such as in Flint, Michigan. There is a Toyota plant near my home and they start their employees out at 18.00 an hour and within 2 years they are at 21.00 or so. I remember walking in my local park one day when I saw huge inflatable toys, refreshments stand, etc--I thought we were having some county fair. Turns out it was employee appreciation day for 900 Toyota employees and their families.

These jobs though are so dependent on many things and ultimately inconsistent. Look at the SUV market a few years ago and look at it now.

ayla2004, ASN, RN · Jul 13, 2008

Heck, in the UK nurses are still called sisters! How about that! A male nurse calling himself a sister!
.

Sister is the title of a female ward/unit manager or a female assistant ward /unit manager. A male ward/unit manager or assistanct manger is called a Charge Nurse this is a permant title not related to a particular shift.

Sister is derived from the role female catholic religous orders had in health care from a long time.

However carryover from the female specific occupation is the title of Matron, formally the head obivoulsy female nurse of a hospital a role that was phased out has been reintroduced and now is a head of a directorate male nurses in this role use the term lead nurse.

navvet · Aug 6, 2008

All 75,000 workers should now move down to Mexico, with their buyout

money and throw it into the economy. Get their jobs back, as skilled auto workers at the new plant in Mex., then Unionize said plant and make Ford pay the same wage as before.

I assume with the dollar conv. to peso, they could make a decent living. They could buy several Thousand acres of property and become their own little Amerimex right smack dab in mexico.

Babs0512 · Aug 7, 2008

The question was "Do you feel good about the $$$ you make?"

NO