Has Anyone Worked A Strike?

-jt · Mar 12, 2003

Why? It doesnt have that affect here. On Long Island, NY last year, when the staff RNs at St Catherines of Sienna went out on strike, the nursing instructors that were using that hospital for clinicals came out in support of the strike and even helped lead it. They boycotted the hospital, pulled their students out, made arrangements for clinicals at other facilities - some not so nearby and not so convenient to get to but the students did it. Where theres a will theres a way. They did not cross the RN strike line and their education was not interrupted.

Students and instructors walked the strike line with the nurses too. The issues were safe staffing, forced overtime, & other working conditions & the students understood that those things would be affecting them too as new nurses if things were not changed now. The hospital had planned to utilize the students as scabs but the students & instructors refused to allow that. After 111 days and millions of taxpayer $$$ spent on scabs and ineffective strike-busting tactics, the hospital finally gave in & agreed to the contract the RNs demanded - safe staffing ratios, banned mandatory ot, recruitment/retention initiatives.

eddy · Mar 12, 2003

Strikes only occur AFTER there have been extensive talks that have failed. People don't strike for the "heck of it". It is a burden for everyone involved, but it's often the only way to get management to act.

In regard to the patients... It's not the fault of the nurses for the greedy powers that be that chose to run at a normal load and accept new admits when they KNOW that staff will be short in a strike situation. That's like blaming UPS drivers for striking because it was their fault that your beanie baby you won on ebay took 3 days extra to get to you.... Or blaming it on the bus drivers who went on strike due to terrible compensation and safety concerns that management refused to address and caused you not to get to your desired destination. All this "you've got to make money so I'll scab" rationale is completely absurd. So since you happen to be in a bad temporary situation you are willing to set back your future and the future of others because you CLEARLY care more about yourself than the patients anyway. What is good for patients is highly skilled well compensated nurses. What's good for nurses is OTHER highly skilled well compensated nurses.

Scabs are scum. If you scab, I have zero respect for you. Flame me all you want, but there is a reason why we have Unions and collective bargaining... and it isn't intended to line your scab pockets while you travel the country scabbing your license to anyone willing to take you. You're not a hero. You are just a scab... plain and simple.

This is a fight. Those in organized unions are making sacrifices for the future of themselves, their patients, and future nurses to come. The ones that DON'T care about any of these people are corporate big heads who are merely trying to squeeze every penny out of the company with little regard for patient care. The ones making it possible for management to continue acting only in their OWN best interests are scabs that will sell out in the name of a dollar. Sick.

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

jt,

you stated: "They boycotted the hospital, pulled their students out, made arrangements for clinicals at other facilities - some not so nearby and not so convenient to get to but the students did it."

of course students did it...what other choice would they have??"

interesting debate though...Is it selfish of the instructors to jump in (they don't work there technically), as their #1 priority should be the students.

sean

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by eddy
What is good for patients is highly skilled well compensated nurses. What's good for nurses is OTHER highly skilled well compensated nurses.

Scabs are scum. If you scab, I have zero respect for you. Flame me all you want, but there is a reason why we have Unions and collective bargaining... and it isn't intended to line your scab pockets while you travel the country scabbing your license to anyone willing to take you. You're not a hero. You are just a scab... plain and simple.

Sick.

I agree, if nurses strike, which "highly skilled" nurses will care for the patient? Since it seems you would have the patients suffer.

Or, if you were a patient in a hospital whose nurses went on strike, who would care for you???

eddy · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by hogan4736

I agree, if nurses strike, which "highly skilled" nurses will care for the patient? Since it seems you would have the patients suffer.

To the contrary. Administration has usually two weeks of warning of a potential strike. In this time they can do what's right or what's normal (wrong). They have the time to decline new non-emergency admits, time to transfer low acuity patients and even high acuity STABLE patients OR start talking about a resolution. The ball is in their court. The patients are often already suffering substandard care, not the fault of the nurses working at the facility. Due to terrible staffing ratios, low compensation, etc. "highly skilled" nurses are finding that they can make a better living and a better life with their license away from the bed side. That's not their fault. That is administration. Strikes aren't just something done on a whim. Strikes come about after the management has refused to bargain. THEY are causing the patients additional suffering if anybody is. I certainly care a great deal about my patients. I wouldn't be in this if I didn't. Nurses are patients #1 advocate.

Or, if you were a patient in a hospital whose nurses went on strike, who would care for you???

First, I would TRY not to go to a hospital on strike. It is my duty to support my brothers and sisters by boycotting that service until an agreement is met. That is of course assuming a non-critical visit. In some situations I have no choice, but if I am plopped into a striking facility, it's quite likely only because administration is just trying to pull off a magic trick rather than refer all incoming pts to the neighboring hospitals (like they ethically should). Do you think it would be fair for a baseball stadium to sell tickets to people while the team was on strike so they can sit there and look at an empty field? That's the equivilant to what management is trying to do at a hospital if they aren't referring their people out to neighboring facilities. Besides it is a widely known fact that most nurses on strike will cross the lines for emergency related situations, returning once the situation has been returned to a stable condition. Further demonstrating that striking nurses DO care about their patients.

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

eddy, you only present ONE point of view:

first: you say that you are right, and admin is wrong...SHOCKING that's would you (as a striking nurse) would say. There are always 2 sides, and not for you (as an impartial participant) to decide.

second: as a non-nurse patient, I doubt he'd think about which hospital he'd go to w/ chest pain...You post assumes everyone knowingly has stake in the hospital politics.

sean

James Huffman · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by lpnga
yes. my mother in law checked into a travel company that had a hosptial on strike in California and they paid $5000 a month but you had to work 12 hour shifts almost everyday you only had one day off a week

OK, maybe I'm missing something ...

12 hour shifts, 6 days a week means she was working 72 hours a week.

Let's say an average month has 4.5 weeks in it. That means she was working 324 hours a month. $5,000 a month means she was working for approximate $15.43 an hour.

I guess I just hope the benefits were really, really good. ;-)

Jim Huffman, RN

http://www.NetworkforNurses.com

eddy · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by hogan4736

eddy, you only present ONE point of view:

One point of view from a non union member that works agency full-time. :) That's me, I'm shaded for sure. :rolleyes: hehe

first: you say that you are right, and admin is wrong...SHOCKING that's would you (as a striking nurse) would say.

Not a striking nurse, not even a staff nurse. Just know what's right.

There are always 2 sides, and not for you (as an impartial participant) to decide.

There are indeed two sides. I would beg to differ on your assumption that it isn't for me (if I WERE a union member on strike, but I'm not) to decide. If I were a union member, it is IN FACT for me to COLLECTIVELY decide with my fellow union members. Accordingly my elected union reps would then try to negotiate with the hospital management. Those are the two sides. The fact that we have an incredible shortage of nurses already proves that management is NOT fixing the situation nor does it care (if it means spending any money). That leaves only the nurses to stand in to make a bad situation better.

second: as a non-nurse patient, I doubt he'd think about which hospital he'd go to w/ chest pain...You post assumes everyone knowingly has stake in the hospital politics.

Sean, you asked ME what I would do. I told you. You're right I certainly can't say what another person would do... and I didn't. So what's your point exactly?

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

my point is, you know what the point is...I was speaking of the "collective you," asking you for an intelligent answer...we all know union nurses wouldn't go to the ER in a striking hospital...If I was a landscaper, 55 years old, w/ chest pain (living in a large urban city, w/ a hospital every 2-3 miles), would you (as a picketer) tell me to go down the street to a non striking hospital...What is your plan for that guy??? Because we are all waiting by our monitors with your "right" and all knowing plan...

...

and YOU alone (along w/ your co-workers) are unquestionably right? according to whom??

The angry father thought he was right when he killed his son's killer...same logic applies...being right is SUBJECTIVE!

your egocentric thinking is, however, entertaining...I can see you telling admin in a bargaining meeting "But we're right!!"

admin: "would you care to tell us WHY you are right?"

you: "well...uhhhh, because we ARE right...That should cover it, right?"

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

oh, and eddy, you stated: "The fact that we have an incredible shortage of nurses already proves that management is NOT fixing the situation nor does it care (if it means spending any money). That leaves only the nurses to stand in to make a bad situation better. "

So it's the (collective) responsibility of every administration of every hospital in the country to ensure that the country has enough nurses??

Really??

:roll

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by hogan4736
jt,
you stated: "They boycotted the hospital, pulled their students out, made arrangements for clinicals at other facilities - some not so nearby and not so convenient to get to but the students did it."

of course students did it...what other choice would they have??"

interesting debate though...Is it selfish of the instructors to jump in (they don't work there technically), as their #1 priority should be the students.

sean

As responsible Instructors representing Nursing to a group of students - and teaching responsible nursing - if the strike was being held for reasons such as mandatory overtime (a practice that endangers staff and patients), inadequate staffing, MD or administrative abuses (see previous comment), inappropriate staffing situations (such as "PCT 3" starting IVs and giving meds)- being instituted - then the responsible act is to respect the picket line.

These instructors are protecting the safety of patients and nurses - by protesting untenable conditions. And by supporting the strike, they are demonstrating that the students are their #1 priority by protecting the conditions under which those students will eventually have to work.

Also, how well are students going to learn in a short staffed/replacement staffed hospital? It is obviously not the optimal learning situation - something that students deserve (elaborated on in latest student nurse thread).

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2003

"But we're right!"

eddy