Largest Nurses Strike in US History - Replacement Nurses Arrive - Your opinion

[girlvet]

12,000 nurses in minneapolis are going to vote on whether to strike next wednesday. This would be the largest nurse strike in US history. It looks like we WILL vote to strike. The employer is trying to take back 30 years of gains nurses have made here for safe patient care. They are trying to cut our pension by 30 percent, change our health insurance among other things. We need your support with this. This is going on across the country and nurses have to stand up for each other! If you think this won't come to your hospital, you are wrong. Support your fellow nurses.

For more info go to http://www.mnnurses.org/

[DonWallace]

When our nurses were escorted off the units like a bunch of criminals there were plenty of RN's that were non contract floating around taking report from us. What everyone needs to realize is that MN striking is to give us the rights to demand safe patient care. Just imagine if there were not nurses out there that stuck up for their patients in previous years... where would the nursing profession be?

[_RN_]

I absolutely stand in unity with the strike.

[EmergencyNrse]

I stand.... to make some $$$ while you strike.

Thanks.

(Never been to Minnesota. What's there to do?

Cheese? Polka? Never mind, I'll be working).

[bigreddog1934]

yes, of course the global derivatives scheme, the utter deregulation of white collar crimes on an international scale that required trillions of dollars worldwide had nothing to do with this. yes capitalism has always had it under control and anyone who bands together outside of governments and corporate board rooms to get back some of the money they produce is just lazy and incapable. yes in capitalism we all control our own destiny, unless, that is we actually have to work for a living and can't expect government bailouts larger than the gdp of entire countries. oh, and unless you live on the gulf coast, or in an army barracks, or next to a closed factory or anywhere outside of wall street. yes, we've never been so free.

go get em' minnesota.

You, have obviously been exposed to a lifetime of pro-union idealists who can't perform good enough to not have to worry about poor wages and the loss of their job. Capitalism is great because you control your own destiny. If you don't get paid enough find a different job that pays more. If you can't, better yourself so that you can get a job that pays more money. If unions have so little money, than explain to me how they afford to contribute millions to political campaigns every election cycle. Sorry boss, I'm a bit more wise than you think. I've also never had to worry about poor wages or loss of job because I have always performed. Never joined a union and never will. If I don't like my patient ratios or pay, I'll go somewhere else with my bigboy pants on.

Funny thing is, I'll bet there are hundreds of nurses in our country who would gladly take the jobs of the nurses in MN as we speak. By the way, interesting story in the news today about union pensions ruining the economy of multiple states. Guess that's what happens when you need a Nanny State to handle your retirement for you instead of saving for yourself.

[jstanrs]

i would like to ask those of you who are anti-union if you have ever blatantly challenged the administration of your facility. i have and the price i paid was horrendous; i have heard similar stories from all too many colleagues. for all the pros and cons of unionizing, i think the ability to demand collective bargaining makes it worthwhile. please download and read the following report and ask yourself if the issues it exposes are being addressed by your facility.

http://www.jointcommission.org/nr/rdonlyres/5c138711-ed76-4d6f-909f-b06e0309f36d/0/health_care_at_the_crossroads.pdf

p.s. the jcaho report mentions obtaining magnet status - i don't know about elsewhere, but locally, this has lost any significance. hospitals pay big bucks then hurriedly put in place those things they know the investigators will be looking for - staff are even instructed how to reply if questioned. it no longer means what it once did.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Well designed systems lay the foundation for responsible behaviors at all levels of any organization.....That is the argument for collective bargaining in a nutshell because employees can collectively offer feedback to improve organizational structures/procedures.....

[DIPLOMATICRN4HIRE, MSN, RN]

I support the MN nurses who have a true issue at hand. Do I stand up for the Profession and Union or do I stand up for My patients.

Hard Pill to swallow, do you stand on the picket line and pray the patients get the best care from the Replacement Nurses which are just as quailified as the Striking Nurses are (If you think they will stay and work forever, dont think twice, they dont ( Most have MS and BSN as well as specialized Creditials) However, do not think your job isnt on grounds that are unstable in the mainstructures.

Are you scared to cross the picket line because of what others may think? Are you scared NOT to Hold a sign up in hopes that someone will pull thier head out of thier ass and do what is right, Union or Hospital, to be honest I think both have fat in the ADMIN that could do some serious time on the Nursing floors to get Thier Reality Check.

I have worked all over the world and be thankful on this note: Your Profession consists of Morals and Obligations to YOURSELF first and then to YOUR PATIENT. IF your environment is NOT right, then STAND AND FIGHT.

If your ratio's the issue then work with them, pull an Admin Nurse from that DAMM OFFICE and put a washcloth in thier hand and ask them to show you the correct way to do a full head to toe bed bath, clean the room and then grab meds, take the next admit, help the assistants out when a patient goes nuts and then the family follows with a cat fight in the hall, take report on the new admit, do a complete exam, take orders off, get everything going, someone find X-ray, work the code currently going on in the next room, then run and hurry off to hold the hand of the dying patient, get two patients ready for surgery, make sure all consents are signed so the Hospital doesnt get sued, then listen to How the Drs bark off orders that Jesus himself couldnt perform and then do that for EVERY patient assigned. Drag that Admin nurse with you and when they ask to pee teach them how we recycle our own urine and pray for medical insurance when we retire so we can get a bladder tacking.

I hold strong for my support of the Nurses and thier issues, however Every Person has a brain. Use it.

We no longer are in the business of patient care, we were dragged into a "Business" kicking and screaming all the way. yet here we sit at the impass.... do I stay or do I go.

I highly suggest getting specialized because soon outsourcing will not be our only problem!

Z. CNOR,CCRN

*Spell check isnt working so forgive me Im tired!*

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

And repeating it by quoting the offending term in yet another post is unproductive as well.

Tensions are getting dialed up pretty high on this thread, so please let me remind everyone to post with the kind of manners you would use if you were addressing a roomful of your colleagues and supervisors. That means watching the language and reporting offensive posts to the moderating team, rather than taking on another member yourself.

Thank you, and do carry on. :)

[jstanrs]

re: "the infamous 'group 1' in texas."

beware!

according to their website http://www.gp1.com, "we do not just serve the dallas-fort worth or north texas healthcare area. with our state of the art background check, background search and background screening system, groupone now serves the world."

i have heard that they now have clients in 17 states.

for those not familiar with groupone, they function under the guise of a credit-reporting agency but they have little if anything to do with credit reporting. instead, they serve as a clearinghouse for information on healthcare employees and by invoking the privilege of the fair credit reporting act, they claim immunity from any legal recourse. whereas employers typically will only confirm limited information about past employees - e.g., dates of employment and salary - groupone allows them to say what they please without fear of legal ramification. its abuse is so blatant that "groupone" has become a verb, as in a disgruntled manager saying to a terminating employee, "i'm going to groupone you and you'll be lucky to find another job in this area."

to those who have to deal with this nonsense, consider the possibility that a union could put an end to it.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

MNA pension plan is a jointly managed pension plan. Three members of MNA and three hospital representatives are responsible for supervision of the plan. Neither the hospitals or MNA have sole control of the plan.

It has 500,000,000 in assets for available for members.

From my very brief review the pension plan is roughly equivalent to TRA pension contribution levels or MN state employee general plan for benefits/contributions.

My point has always been that nursing is in effect a quasi public employee position and that nurses in the twin cities should have the protection of truly portable pension service.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Thread closed for cooling off.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Thread reopened.