In the WV, OH, KY area, Krogers has been on strike for 6 weeks.
They went on strike- not for more $$$- - Krogers pays well, REAL WELL - - ever hear of the meat cutter's and grocery checkers who make as much and MORE than nurses?
Well, look no further....than Krogers.
No, the employees went out on strike because......
Krogers has said they must ask their employees to pay a small - - - a very small - - portion of their health insurance .
Krogers employees, in WV, OH, KY do not pay one cent out of their paychecks for health insurance !!
Nurses! Look at your pay stubs....
For ONE person, I am paying $400 a month.
The past four years, I paid between $450- $600 a month for health insurance.... for ONE person.
Hello Krogers employees !!
Health insurance is not a "freebie" that I, the shopper,
wish to confer on you by paying higher prices for groceries and meat, dairy, vegetables in your store.
Management tried REALLY HARD to explain to the union and employees, that the employees must assume part of the financial
responsibility for their health insurance.
Krogers explained that :
Our health care costs have increased 800 % in the last ten years ! We need for our employees to contribute a small amount towards their health insurance.
The employees refused.
Personally, Krogers can reopen manana.....
I refuse to shop there.
WALMART is looking better....Krogers prices were already sky-high.
I refuse to pay at the check-out counter for their insurance.
You can pay for your own, just as the rest of America does.
The walton family is greedy, they make billions of dollars and paying their employees peanuts. They don't even have a union and tell their employees not to join a union. An employee told me and my mom Walmart is about to lay people off and cut back hours.
SD RN writes: "The union has cut their weekly striking pay by $75 per week stating that they are running out of money. "
Correction: the union has cut the strike pay from $300/week (for those who picket at least 20 hours/week) to its present level of $100/week. AND the union members' healthcare coverage is due to lapse at the end of this year--in just a few days--since no one has been paying it.
As you said, the union president's pay has NOT been cut at all. He's in his element in front of the TV cameras.
By the same token, these very workers voted him and the rest of the leadership in. They asked for it.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid the unions won't win on this one, simply because, unlike nurses, these workers are easily replaced. And there are signs that the union is cracking a bit since the strike has gone on much longer than expected. [/b]
I think all of us have lost our focus on what should be the REAL ISSUE in this dicussion.
I take issue with Lizz's statement that nurses are not easily replaced during a strike I know of at least two instances, in as many years, of strikes against hospitals in my state. In both cases agency nurses provided seamless coverage during the strike. In one case I personallly knew some of these "scabs." Some of them were agency nurses (who were 50% of our staff) at the last place I worked.
The real issue is "guess what they want?"
I was on vacation, just after the Calif. recall, and during the first week of the strike there. On a radio station I heard someone say that, "We have strikes in three instances; the groceries, LA transportation, and a major defense contractor--In each instance the issue is the same--HEALTH CARE INSURANCE."
Just after I got back from vacation we had for the first time in history, contract settlements with the big three automakers--with no strike against any of them. After the contract was settled the President of the UAW wrote a commentary that said, "We have placed yet another band-aid to a much larger problem--that of universal health care."
"Until the federal government does something to provide universal coverage this problem will keep coming back, each time in worse shape."
It seems that the closer I look the uglier this monster becomes. I watched on CSpan the "debate" by the congress on the medicare mess. I saw Junior crowing on live TV about "PRESCRIPTION COVERAGE FOR SENIORS" within minutes of the vote. Please don't get me started about Juniors re-election campaign, or his nails-in-the-Democrats coffin. I think what galls me the most is how carefully engineered the, "doing away with medicare as we know it" was done. The sh*t won't hit the fan until Junior is safely in his second term!
People, let's all take a look at the real issue. Dennis the Menace says we should scrap medicare. I'm not sure if he's correct about this, but I would much prefer scrapping it to any attempt to resuscitate it (and dealing with all of its band-aids). I haven't wasted much time finding out about Dean's proposed solutions to the health care mess. I am quite certain that no other politician is better qualified to look at the problem. Someone on this site pointed out his lack of experience and ablility in foreign policy. I would have no problem supporting a Dean-Clark/Clark-Dean or Dean-Kerry/Carry-Dean ticket.
For that matter, I am inclined to agree with Al Franken, "Any Democrat is better than any Republican", especially if one considers health care and foreign policy. My caveat goes back to the Carter presidency. Reagan convinced us that things couldn't get worse, and then proved to us that they could!
What every U.S. citizen needs to see is that we have the BEST health care in the world, and the WORST way of paying for it.
As a nurse for over 20 years, I have learned to "make do" with what little I have to work with. As a citizen I feel it is time to DEMAND much better.
I take issue with Lizz's statement that nurses are not easily replaced during a strike. I know of at least two instances, in as many years, of strikes against hospitals in my state. In both cases agency nurses provided seamless coverage during the strike. In one case I personallly knew some of these "scabs." Some of them were agency nurses (who were 50% of our staff) at the last place I worked.
I'll certainly defer to your experience, but I was wondering if this occurred before the current shortage.
I figured that grocery store clerks, who aren't required to obtain licenses or college degrees to do their jobs, are a helluva lot easier to replace than nurses.
Go to Dr. Dean's website and look up the article on 'FAST ACTION TO AVERT A NURSING SHORTAGE'. Very good article! He sounds solid on these issures and willing to help us nurses in alot areas. Hope you will take the time to read it in its entirety, 3 pages.
Typical of this area since the increase in nurses voting for a union my hourly pay has increased by $19.00 since 1995.
Dr. Dean was Governor of Vermont, not New Hampshire.
Regardless of the AMA lobby or big business NURSING CARE is the ONLY reason for a person to be hospitalized.
SO when nurses work together we make progress.
I agree we need Medicare for all, not the Dean plan. In all practicality the current administration and big business seem to be keeping most people in the dark.
I say, "Tell your patients and their loved ones the truth. That includes letting them know how many others they must share you with."
Even though it's a pain sometimes, we have shopped elsewhere and will continue to do so until the strike is over. We're all in the same boat, whether you pay for health insurance or not.
There are two sides to argue here ... yes, health insurance is ridiculously outrageously expensive and that is whole huge issue to be dealt with in itself. However ....
Striking because your employer is asking you to pay a SMALL PORTION of your health insurance is what I have a problem with. My employer once paid for all of our insurance and it is part of what made me decide to go to work there. But when health insurance got expensive, we were asked to help pay for a portion, which I did ... because costs went up over $200/mo in two years for my own insurance and they asked me to pay $20 of that. Seems like a dair agreement. Instead of instituting lay-offs to save costs, they asked the employees to help pay this benefit. What's not to understand?
Renerian pays $900/mo for her families health insurance. The stores out here are asking the employees to pay a max of $15 per week for health insurance. For the WHOLE FAMILY ... who of us nurses gets FREE coverage for our WHOLE family? I'd venture to say not many. Those store employees have a good thing going ... or at least they did ... who knows what will happen now that others are taking their places behind the registers? Maybe they will not have a job at all.
There are plenty of hardworking individuals who are happy to make $17.90/hour and pay for a portion of their health coverage. And I'll bet a lot of them are marching in the strike wishing they were back inside of the store.
Striking for better conditions is not something that I disagree with. What I disagree with is that the conditions weren't so bad to start with. Lots of people pay for part or ALL of their health insurance. And to be offered health insurance for your whole family ... what a blessing. And until someone changes how insurance is run ... it will always get more and more expensive and the costs will be shouldered more and more by the employee.
Save us from the resentful worker mad at another group of workers for supposedly having it a tad better than she does, so she takes up the cause of the corporations! With this note, the self-righteous shall always cross on over to the other side....
I support the union, but I hate corrupt union leadership.
Is there any other kind of union leadership? I would devote the rest of my useful life to any union which truly supported the rank and file. Sadly, I doubt that any such entity will ever exist.
I began my union education in my first job out of high school. I joined the UAW at my first job in a car plant. After I had enough seniority to transfer to the day shift, I asked my boss about a transfer. A week or so later I asked him again. After he "hemmed and hawed" I told him that if he couldn't give me an answer by lunch time, I wanted to talk to the committee man. He immediately said, "Oh no, there's no need for that, let me see what I can do." By lunch time I had my transfer.
While I was in nursing school I worked as an attendant in a mental hospital. While I worked there the "boys from New Jersey" organized the lower ranks of my hospital. I voted against them, but I musta been in Florida. I got a memo from personnel that said, "You are working in a closed shop--pay your "service fee" or be terminated." I joined the union, and asked who my representative was. It turned out to be a cook on the day shift. How could a cook on days understand or deal with the work rules issues of a ward worker on Midnites (never mind how direct-care workers vastly outnumbered kitchen people).
I worked at a "closed shop" hospital in another county for over two years. After my 60 days' probation was up, I asked someone who my union representative was. It was Lori, the charge nurse. How do you suppose I would have felt if my foreman in the car plant was also the shop steward?
Hospitals have shown me how craftily they deal with unions. When I was doing clinicals there was a ward clerk who attempted to unionize. They fixed her little red wagon! They saw to it that she would never again work in any hospital.
I have watched three major hospitals become unionized. They all used a "divide and conquer" stategy. The first two accepted union employees only at the levels below RNs (but not at or above). The last place excluded all staff below the RN level. They put high seniority nurse's with cushy day jobs in all the power union positions. When my boss decided to get rid of me, the union reps helped her. They not only kicked me out of the hospital, they kicked me out of the county. I applied to work in another big hospital after I left. I got a nice tour and interview from a lady that I'd worked with in the other place. She was ready to hire me, when I said, "I have some other applications pending--I'll get back to you in a couple of days." Guess what? When I called back three days later, "Oh gee, I'm sorry we've filled all of our positions for now--please feel free to re-apply in the future." Ha ha! She'd just dropped a dime to her sister down the road.
The union who "represented" me, (AKA helped put me out), was de-certified from a different hospital on the other side of the state. There is more hope on the horizon. Check into the California Nurses Association, who kicked the ANA out of their state. I have visited their web site. The first thing they got was decent working conditions (AKA, not being treated like children) after many years with the same hospital. In CNA contract hospitals, after a number of years, nurses no longer have to work nites and weekends.
Hospitals always seem to have it all wrong. The longer you work for them the more they treat you like a turd. Nothing galls me more than to work for a hospital that lures in new grads and kisses their behinds, while treating loyal committed staff so poorly. A survey was done by a nursing journal in major U.S. cities. They looked at new nurse salaries compared to staff who have been with the hospital 2yrs or more. Their conclusion was that if an old timer wants a raise, she should quit for a few weeks, (long enough for them to forget your name), and then re-hire. This mag swore it worked every time.
My experience with unions taught me to give little hope for nurses. NURSES ARE NEVER GOING TO GET ORGANIZED, as long as nurses continue to become nurse bureacrats. Whenever a nurse exchanges her lab coat for a business suit, she turns her back on her sisters who are still on the floor. Do you think nurse managers care about insufficient staffing on your floor? Why would they do that if they are on profit sharing? Every call-in is a dollar in their pocket.
Show me the union that stands behind staff nurses and I'll work with them forever. So far all the union has shown me is that they're the ones who show up with the Surgilube (or K-Y) just in time for my next SCR*W J*B)!
Someone needs to start a new thread. I would do it, but I do not know how.
The thread should be called, "Nursing Unions--a solution or just another problem?" :kiss
lashon20
74 Posts
The walton family is greedy, they make billions of dollars and paying their employees peanuts. They don't even have a union and tell their employees not to join a union. An employee told me and my mom Walmart is about to lay people off and cut back hours.