Has Anyone Worked A Strike?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just wondering what it is like. Anybody have anything to say about the specific companies?

i am not the best person to give an answer here (since we have a no strike clause in our union contract) but like i said---it is not always about the money!!!!!! if the problem has to do with safe staffing then the patients are suffering anyway. and, in general, i believe the suits are notified of an impending strike, which puts the ball in their corner, to transfer pts out, or agree to demands, or pay outrageous costs to cover and teach those unruly nurses a lesson. to break it down to you, i feel(imho) that administration is the one to be questioned. and i don't recall condemning scabs-as they are called- but i do think they undermine the reason for a strike.

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tiger, the money is just an example...

let's say we all agree w/ why the strike is going down, for WHATEVER reason...

you can blame administration all day and night. I'll even agree w/ that...anything you come up with, I'll agree to!

But...WHO will care for the patients in a strike that is 100% administration's fault, and lasts for 3 days??

IT HAS TO BE A LICENSED HEALTH CARE WORKER!!!

I see an ad in the neighboring town's hospital's website, and I just got laid off...Now I suck for crossing the picket line??? Shoot, I'm just trying to feed my newborn of 3 weeks...Heck, 3 weeks ago, everything was looking great...Then 9/11 happened, and I got laid off...

You can question and hate admin all you want, but the nurses will still strike when all is said and done if they disagree w/ admin- BOTTOM LINE!!

Get the picture?

I AGREE w/ ANY reasonable strike, and its merits, but who cares for the patient in the mean time????

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You have to remember that the hospital has to be given written notice and are allowed 10 days to 2 weeks generally before a strike will start. This gives them the opportunity to make arrangements to cancel elected procedures, transfer patients to other facilities, etc. Also, they start to prepare for it long before ,knowing how the contract talks are going. Agencies are contacted and prepared long before it happens. Nurses from agencies are brought in from other states, with help for them to get temporary license to practice, they are put up in places- which means they have had to plan in advance for it. And they pay out BIG BUCKS TO DO IT- but sure can't find the funds for your raise. Check out what your CEO's are making, their bonuses etc. I could hit several more issues but this is a start.

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p.s.

you didn't outline what you'd tell the family member of someone who died during a (100% warranted) nursing strike, due to (documented) substandard, interim, SCAB nursing care.

And to the point that we have 2 weeks notice to take precautions, the fact remains, we can't close the ED, and we can't transfer EVERYONE.

sean

just playing devil's advocate, and encouraging points to be discussed that are glossed over (namely PATIENT SAFETY...one of the very points we are striking for!!)

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Patient safety sure isn't going to improve if you are working alot of doubles to help cover, being mandated when tired- with more errors being documented- check out the studies. Your equipment is substandard, your patient's are coming in sicker and your matrix load doesn't change. Tell me how you explain to those families too!!!!!!! This Nursing Shortage sure isn't going to change until we get things changed for our profession. Someday, you will need to take a stand to improve conditions, which also includes improving you pay. If you don't, you won't be preventing any more deaths, errors etc, because you will be to burned and tired that you will be making errors, that could affect one of your patients. Now explain to me how you will tell that to the family of one of your patients. Gee, sorry I worked 2 12 hours and 2 doubles and I made a mistake!!!!!! Yeah, it is about safety and it is about MONEY-- your want to attract people back in to this profession- it isn't all about holding someone's hand!!!

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in regards to your question-i would tell the family members that administration chose to promote the strike rather than give into the demands of the nurses for a safe pt. ratio and decent pay. as far as the eds go. the administration have the same info, i assume, so why don't they realize the problem and deal with it????!!!!!!! i wish the pt and family could see the amount of raises the ceo and other administrative types get! and they get it (sometimes) to cut back on quality care.

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Specializes in ICU.

We don't use outside agencies here...it's our own union people (who have set out acceptable essential service levels months prior to a strike along with management) who take the turns on the pickets..then inside as staff nurses.

Are you saying that when you go out...EVERYONE goes out?

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Originally posted by tiger

in regards to your question-i would tell the family members that administration chose to promote the strike rather than give into the demands of the nurses for a safe pt. ratio and decent pay. as far as the eds go. the administration have the same info, i assume, so why don't they realize the problem and deal with it????!!!!!!! i wish the pt and family could see the amount of raises the ceo and other administrative types get! and they get it (sometimes) to cut back on quality care.

Really??? your patient is still barely alive as you worked out the strike points, you return ,and he dies at the end of your shift?? You'll look the family member in the eye and shift blame to admin and walk away, feeling ZERO responsibility (not that you should bear any responsibility, but you have that big of balls to tell the family that to their face??? Really?????) Bull s**t!!!

Seriously, to cafe and tiger...I agree 100% w/ all of your points (except the mandating point...Memo to admin: TRY AND MANDATE ME!!! I'll go down the street)

AZ nurse practice act just published clarification re: abandonment..."Refusing to be mandated is NOT abandonment"

anyway...I am for the reform of nursing conditions, and all the points you so eloquently outlined...But you also helped make my argument...Taking a stand to improve conditions is necessary to effect change, yes??

Then SOMEONE STILL HAS TO CARE FOR THE PATIENTS DURING THE STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My main point: Please stop piling on RNs for crossing picket lines...Crossing is also part of the equation necessary to effect change...Let's stick together...I may not like you for crossing the picket line, but if you crossing the picket line helps admin to wake up and hit them in their pocketbook (in the here and now), then I'm for it!

I'm on your side, let's just quit the "nurse hating" that goes on during strikes, and bottom line, we say it's about the patient in the long run, but want to wholly blame admin???

we can't have our cake, AND eat it too (w/ milk)

sean

:cool:

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

I just discovered around here they can make five to six thousand dollars a week with all expenses such as travel, food and housing paid with a bonus at the end of each 2 week assignment. I hate to say this but I found myself thinking I might be able to question my ethics for ten thousand or more dollars a month....I wouldn't but I did think about it...But then, I am no position to be a traveler.....

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

I hate the idea of strikes too, but in the case of the question of having a family member die due to substandard care, I think we are, in some cases, already there...No one has a problem when teachers strike, and they are supposed to care about our children....

Nurses are people too...If it comes to treating them appropriately in order to get enough of them back into pt care and treated appropriately themselves, then I think the option of strike is something which can be valuable, albeit extremely avoidable if all possible

I love nursing and will defend the profession no matter what BUT I will not feel horribly if I think of myself first....Never say never....

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Specializes in OB.

Regarging the scabs "hitting the administration in their pocketbook" - they DON'T!! I've heard this one before. The pay for strikebreakers come out of a special insurance fund which the hospital pays into for just this purpose - one more reason why they just don't care about settling before a strike action.

As for my take on crossing a picket line - haven't done it, won't do it, won't work for an agency that staffs strikes and if a facility that I am contracted with goes out on strike, I won't go in (my company is aware of this).

It's everyone's right to do as they please, but the consequences of choosing to do so, along with the big bucks, is that some others will think less of you for doing so - goes with the territory.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

https://allnurses.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=364581&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending&pagenumber=3

SOOOO many times this has been brought up here.

Have not, would not, will not, EVER.

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