What do nursing unions do?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I know there has been a lot of talk about unions lately. Exactly what do they do for nurses?

Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
I have been very successfull in my career and continue to do so.

Yes, Teeituptom, congratulations on your self-success.

Good, good, good. Your hard work and self determination have served you well, this is really good, (and actually the positive results are not always shared by everyone.)

I truly hope you never experience the hardships that sometimes results by unfairness and such.

Gen

p.s. sincerely hope that you don't fall of the high horse but rather, maybe one day realize that there is indeed LUCK involved in getting up onto one

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
Yes, Teeituptom, congratulations on your self-success.

Good, good, good. Your hard work and self determination have served you well, this is really good, (and actually the positive results are not always shared by everyone.)

I truly hope you never experience the hardships that sometimes results by unfairness and such.

Gen

p.s. sincerely hope that you don't fall of the high horse but rather, maybe one day realize that there is indeed LUCK involved in getting up onto one

Luck is nothing but hard work. planning and more hard work

Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
Luck is nothing but hard work. planning and more hard work

Yes indeed.

I wish you continued goodness.

Unfortunately, there are others who are not being helped due to your hard work, only yourself.

Here is where I would like to add my strength to a union, in order to not only help myself alone, (that is a benefit) but to spread the help to my cohorts who may not be able to have all of their hard work and planning pay off, (say if their employer decides to do something that cannot be taken care of in a 1 employee versus a corporation of thousands.)

Gen

p.s. I hope I never carry such a large load of self-serving justification and bias

p.p.s. I do not see your posts of self-aggrandization and my replies of congratulations as going anywhere positive Teeituptom, so, there is nothing here for you and I to communicate about. I see you as having bias and you see you as not, lets agree to disagree-not much more for you and I to directly respond to in this.....

with all due respect, not a single one of you know what a union is, not one of you.

a union IS THE WORKERS, working together. it is not the STAFF of the union.

a union IS NOT something you "have" it is something you "are"

you do not have a union in your hospital.

you ARE the union. you CANNOT speak as though it is an outside entity. that is a incorrect.

a union is a team, working as a team, nothing more, nothing less. you can work extremely hard together as a team and win like the new york yankees. or you can point fingers, place blame and generally ignore responsibility like the phillies.

success or failure at contract time has to do with you and your co-workers, not union staff.

every one of you made this mistake, it is the classic mistake. almost nobody gets it.

i went through the AFL-CIO orgainizing school, and spent a year travelling the country organizing new unions in new jersey(ghettos), st. louis(ghettos), missiouri(county, mostly nice people, some hicks pointing shotguns at me), lincoln(neither country nor ghetto), and milwaukee(ghetto). i never protected lazy workers, i protected EVERY worker without prejudice. becaue that is the job of union staff.

to be anti-union is to be against yourself. YOU are the union. how can you be against yourself? it is impossible. people who are anti-union are uneducated on the topic. would you try to fight walmart by yourself(non-union) or with a thousand co-workers (union). the answer is so obvious a child can understand, if they have the right information.

also, a little background history of unions. union are responsible for such things as:

1. weekends.....evil i know?

2. paid holidays.....shudder with fear

3. sick days......how mediocre

4. social security......who needs it?

5. free speech.......nah uh the government loves free speech.....right...look up the history of the IWW, they are the ONLY AMERICANS who routinely fought for free speech while town ALL OVER AMERICA denied that right.

6. worker safety/OSHA.......i don't need all 10 fingers

7. the eight hour work day......americans are soo lazy, we should go back to the 16 hours days

8. union member were the FIRST to join the military during the civil war.

9. while america let general franco slaughter the spanish, union members went to spain and fought franco.

10. high pay......i almost forgot, your salary is only what it is because of unions...."but i'm not in a union" ........yeah but if non-union hospitals paid $6 an hour and the union hospital pays $25, where do you think people will go work.

11. job security........what? my boss loves me

12. healthcare......what, i watch my carbs

should i keep going.....if you don't like unions, work 6 and a half days a week in unsafe conditions, for a fraction of the pay, without sick days or healthcare of holidays. without the right to say anything or the boss might fire you. do this for 40 years and retire without money. this would be your life without unions. don't believe me, go to a third world country, and see what conditions are like.

i never protected lazy workers, i protected EVERY worker without prejudice. becaue that is the job of union staff.

Let's get real. The union does protect lazy workers. But so does management.

I've seen companies de-unionize divisions. It made absolutely no difference in performance at all because the management employees were just as incompetent as union employees. Of course, not all union or management employees are incompetent but, my point is that both sides have their share. There really is no difference.

However, I became pro-union when I saw the company fire the same managers who implemented all these downsizing measures on the company's behalf. The managers even did a lot of the workers' jobs to keep things going but the company didn't care and, in the end, even fired the managers.

That's when I realized union was the best way to go. No matter how hard you work, no matter how much you do for them, the company is never going to look out for your interests.

:coollook:

Yes indeed.

I wish you continued goodness.

Unfortunately, there are others who are not being helped due to your hard work, only yourself.

Here is where I would like to add my strength to a union, in order to not only help myself alone, (that is a benefit) but to spread the help to my cohorts who may not be able to have all of their hard work and planning pay off, (say if their employer decides to do something that cannot be taken care of in a 1 employee versus a corporation of thousands.)

Gen

p.s. I hope I never carry such a large load of self-serving justification and bias

p.p.s. I do not see your posts of self-aggrandization and my replies of congratulations as going anywhere positive Teeituptom, so, there is nothing here for you and I to communicate about. I see you as having bias and you see you as not, lets agree to disagree-not much more for you and I to directly respond to in this.....

I agree Gen,

There is a fine line between being the best nurse you can and working under tremendous stress, and arrogance.

go to a third world country, and see what conditions are like.

Don't you be bad mouthing Hawaii, now :chuckle

Specializes in Psychiatric, Home Health, Geriatrics.

Now you have mentioned the word fear twice above. Is it truly an actual fear or is it a self imposed fear. But why fear at all. A wise man once said " You have nothing to fear,but, fear itself"........

Do fear and wage slave go hand in hand, yes they do. Does paranoia of this happen in all Industries, yes. So the first step in empowering ones self is to rise above fear, and realize that is truly a self imposed fear. Does that fear compare with someone who is holding a knife to your throat, no. It a self imposed fear not an actual or justifiable fear. So empower yourselves and rise above it, recognize it for what it truly is.

Now thats the true term and its implications

Is that why Texas nurses are AFRAID to even mention the word "union" in the workplace?

Great posts Gen and Ryan......

Corporations are non-emotional profit driven entities.

They know that to defeat a group of people, whom they NEED to do the work, simply involve emotion. One great way is to "divide and conquer". Slip a little "us vs them" into the union vs non-union issue and we will battle amongst ourselves to the extent that we forget the original issues.....

It's been working great....... corporations are finally getting some emotion out of this.... unfortunately it's a mere chuckle and the joke's on Nurses.

Isn't it ironic that Nursing follows strict "protocols" for Nursing procedures, but can't conceive of gathering together to develop a set of "protocols" for the jobs that you all must do?

Who has a stronger voice, one sole person or a choir of many???

I come from union country; we have no unions where I work now. Unions give peace of mind in my experience. But, if you're in one, get involved. Unions need input all the time, not just at contract crunches.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

That's when I realized union was the best way to go. No matter how hard you work, no matter how much you do for them, the company is never going to look out for your interests.

:coollook:

That is very true. With only one note to point out. No one is better at looking out for your interests more than yourself. No one has a more vested interest in it than you yourelf.

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