Is it ethical for nurses to go on strike?

[ManuelaBeltran]

Hi,

We are a group of nursing students in Canada writing an ethical dilemma paper and we would like to know your opinions on the following issue:

The nurses at a large hospital have been doing negotiation for months but since they haven't obtained any positive results they are deciding to strike for better pay and working conditions. A new graduate nurse is not sure about what to do, or how to vote.

We have learned that in Ontario it is illegal for hospital nurses to strike.

So, our question is: If all or most of the necessary steps to seek negotiation have been taken, to what extent do you think it would be ethical to have an illegal strike? Would the purpose of an illegal strike outweight its consequences?

[nicurn001]

State labor laws already addresses meals and breaks.So it took 18 mos and 3 strikes to agree with mandated labor laws. Seems curious to me. Then it takes 2 hours to handle money. Handle the money first, 2 hours. Then comply with state labor laws. Seems very simple to me. Save all that effort. for something important, like doing patient care.

The reply from jsRN said that the wage aspect of their negotiation took a couple of hours , the problem was related to patient care conditions , whilst it seems simple to you ,apparently it doesn't appear to the vast multitude of employers . If employers were to staff adequately a great many of the threads on this site would be moot .

Something I can't understand about the USA , is why most of the problems in the economy have been blamed upon labor relations , specifically union power , surely as the majority of the economy is not unionized , the economy should be doing well , if indeed unions are the problem .

Having lived through Thatcherism , in the UK , I feel that period redressed the balance between labor and management , but it also showed ,that in order to have a healthy economy there has to be a balance of power between both sides and a government willing and able to control the avarice of either labor or capitalist / employers.

[Freedom42]

Something I can't understand about the USA , is why most of the problems in the economy have been blamed upon labor relations , specifically union power , surely as the majority of the economy is not unionized , the economy should be doing well , if indeed unions are the problem .

The only people blaming current U.S. economic problems on labor unions are those who have always opposed unions. The current crisis is a convenient opportunity for them to renew their campaign.

If labor unions were the problem, then the automakers who met with George W. Bush to ask for help in 2007 would have said so; instead, the Big Three cited the cost of health care as the biggest problem they faced. General Motors and Proctor & Gamble are the single largest buyers of group health care in this country. If, like every other leading industrialized nation, the United States had a universal health care policy, American car companies would not be at such a disadvantage.

Do American car companies support a disproportionate share of union retirees? Yes. But that's not because of the unions per se. It's because the American car companies have been in business in the United States so much longer than their foreign competitors who've opened up shop here. The New York Times recently reported that Big Three unionized workers only make about $10 an hour more than those working at Toyota and Honda plants in the U.S., and that gap is largely due to the lesser benefits paid to the non-union workers.

Labor unions aren't to blame for the economic woes of companies that make cars fewer and fewer people want to buy. Our current economic crisis can be traced back to the disregulation of the banking industry and the greed and corruption that disregulation encouraged. You might wonder why the current administration hasn't been more agressive about prosecuting the parties to blame for some of these massive problems. I don't.

[kalamazoo]

I do not think it's ethical for nurses to go on strike. The patients dont care anything about your issues with administration-they just want and deserve to have a nurse take care of them no matter what the circumstances of their employment is. If a nurse doesn't like what's being done at their place of employment, find another job. There are many states where nurses don't belong to unions and they are treated fairly and love their jobs- you dont have to be in a union to have nurses voices heard. I work in a large hospital in Texas with magnet status and they treat their nurses with respect,involve them in decision-making, pay a salary that is comparable to the area, and ask for our input and implement many many initiatives that were created by nurses.

So, again..l dont think it's ethical for nurses to go on strike. We deserve a descent salary and patient loads that are safe and many many other things but you dont have to walk out on your patients to get those things.,

[nicurn001]

Kalamazoo the reason you are not unionized is simple , you and your employer mutually respect each other , I wish that was the case at every healthcare facility , unfortunately it isn't . Where employers disrepect their staff and cut whatever corners to squeze profit out of patient care , without concern for parients well being , in those situations it is the lesser of two evils to threaten industrial action ( and carry out the threat if patient care does not improve ) , rather than perpetuate the deterioratiion in patient care .

The easy answer is to leave that job and find a new position , but it is not an effective way to advocate for our patients because those you leave behind remain in an enviroment of deteriorating healthcare provision .

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

nursing ethics

the american nurses association (ana) has supported the right of nurses to strike, as a last resort and after careful consideration of every factor.

check out the back issues at your schools library

rn. 2005 jul;68(7):28.

is it ethical for nurses to go on strike?

haddad a.

center for health policy and ethics, creighton university, omaha, usa.

pmid: 16052876 [pubmed - indexed for medline]

james l. muyskens nurses' collective responsibility and the strike ...

nurses and strikes: a perspective from the united states

nursing ethics, july 1, 1997; 4(4): 323 - 329.

[abstract] [pdf]

among the collective as well as individual responsibilities of nurses as professionals is that of maintaining and improving the quality of nursing care. in exchange for monopoly status and professional authority to control nursing practice, the profession is charged with the responsibility of meeting the nursing care needs of the community. if one claims, as i do, that one of the collective responsibilities of nurses is maintenance of high nursing standards, we must examine what action is required of nurses who find themselves in work contexts in which standards and practice are deficient. specifically, is the strike weapon one that may or even ought to be used?

ethics, rights and strike of health workers

ethics: ethics and collective bargaining: calls to action

kathleen o. williams, phd, rn (july 23, 2004)

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

A pt has to wait for a tylenol for a H/A, because there are 9 other requests before his.

A bedrest, non-verbal pt lays in a soiled bed too long, because the staff is making milk shakes for the demanding pt and family down the hall.

Your friend, the 56 yr old nurse with 30 years experience just irreparably damaged their back trying to wrestle a confused pt back to bed. Everybody else was busy, short staffed, and the confused pt wouldn't wait for help.

Mrs Smith was just administered her stat medication, 2hrs late, because the nurse overlooked the orders. The nurse/pt ration that day was 8-1.

Management is aware the nurses are not able to take lunches and breaks R/T workload. Nursing is reprimanded for poor time management.

The list is endless. I'm sure most of you could add your own scenario.

How could it NOT be ethical to strike?

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

This issue has a new timeliness right now. The nurses at Temple University Hospital - members of PASNAP, an affiliate of CNA/NNOC - are about to strike tomorrow. One of the key issues in the strike is a demand by the administration that the nurses accept a contractual gag order banning the nurses from publicly criticizing patient care at the hospital. The ability to speak publicly about patient conditions is critical to the ability to be a patient advocate. It was one of the key tools that Florence Nightengale used to improve conditions for her patients in the military hospital during the Crimean War. It would be unethical for the nurses to accept that demand. And of course any Texas nurse who speaks up publicly about deficient conditions at their hospital is likely not only to be fired, but reported to the special blacklisting service that Texas hospitals maintain to prevent that nurse from working in Texas again. So some Texas nurses may claim they can be effective patient advocates without a union, but try speaking out in public and see what happens.

[PICUPNP]

It amazes me that I have been a nurse in Texas for over 13years now and am quite outspoken but have never had any problems with grp 1. All of this is just union BS... Of course if you talk about California where all is well and the unions are plentiful, you get a different story! Unions continually try to perpetuate the poor sad nurse theme over and over.. You know the one where none of us are adequately able to speak for ourselves or stand up for patient rights...pretty sad strategy ;((( I personally think we've been pretty successful at being patient advocates by keeping unions out of Texas healthcare.

[nicurn001]

There you go again , generalizing . No not all nurses are incapable of talking for themselves , but some feel more comfortable having somebody talk for them and feel that collectively , they can achieve more than an individual . If they can bring about effective change in hospital commitees , great , but many find as we did once a commitee presses upon something management does not wish to discuss / change , the commitee is deemed to have fulfilled its task and is shut down .

I seem to recollect asking what you would do in the face of intransigent management , my recollection of your advise ( boiled down to ) was to work through line management to get a resolution or find another employer if you felt that change would not occur for the patients benefit .

If there was a viable alternative to union representation in the face of intransigent management , I think we would all love to hear about it ( the best I can come up with is binding arbitration , but this would need a powerful opposing view to what management would offer to the arbitrator as a resolution ), but the only reason unions can be voted in to a facility is that management has done such a poor job the nursing staff dispairs of them and looks to a union to help bring about effective change .

[PICUPNP]

My response was to the previous post which suggests that Texas nurses have No alternative but to go to unions due to group ones existence. With regard to your post, i absolutely agree! Wow, right? If the management has treated their staff poorly over the years, the nurses have to do something whther it be a walk- out or contacting union support. My feelings have changed slightly...

[Freedom42]

It amazes me that I have been a nurse in Texas for over 13years now and am quite outspoken but have never had any problems with grp 1. All of this is just union BS... Of course if you talk about California where all is well and the unions are plentiful, you get a different story! Unions continually try to perpetuate the poor sad nurse theme over and over.. You know the one where none of us are adequately able to speak for ourselves or stand up for patient rights...pretty sad strategy ;((( I personally think we've been pretty successful at being patient advocates by keeping unions out of Texas healthcare.

So you've successfully negotiated guaranteed health care, know what your next cost-of-living increase will be, and are guaranteed to receive it, all by speaking up for yourself as an individual? What has your employer guaranteed to you in writing? I think many of us are more than capable of speaking up for ourselves but cannot negotiate individually with employers who flatly refuse to deal. What has been your strategy for such success?

[PICUPNP]

Working for a good institution that values its employees and what they have to say about the system.