A new national union of up to 154,000 registered nurses was created in Phoenix today, replacing one of the most aggressive nurse unions in the industry and combining its membership with two other nurse-only labor groups to form National Nurses United. ...
...The NNU will be governed by three co-presidents drawn from the three founding organizations. The Massachusetts group brings 23,000 members, the UAN brings up to 45,000 and the CNA/NNOC includes 86,000 nurses. Higgins said the three-member presidency was formed as "an equal partnership." ...
ITA (Except for the part about the "guilt complex" :) -- personally, I don't bother documenting short-staffing not because of a guilt complex, but because I know from personal experience that it's just a waste of my time -- it accomplishes nothing.)
If you don't document short staffing and patients die as a result...who does the legal community (who by the way employs a professional organization...NOT a union.. to get things done) come after? No one...because you've got no money. If you've documented, they'll go after those evil rich bastard employers of yours and put them out of business.
There management ran what had been perfectly good companies into the ground . People are all too ready to blame the downfall of companies on the 10% of unionized labor , but they never seem to acknowledge that the 90% of labor that works in nonunionized area's are adversely effected by poor management , which often looks to high risk short term gains , rather than taking the course that will maintain long term profitability for their companies.
So nursing is labor? I thought it was a profession.
Business is supposed to fail if management is poor. With competition, better managed business will pick up the slack and the employees. This system falls apart when business becomes too big. Too big means big enough to influence government to it's advantage. The ultimate TOO BIG business is nationalization. History has shown that it always fails.
To K P A- then we as nurses have to be challenged to combine both; the union and professional union, because we as nurse do both- trained, attention to detail, focused on tasks and proceedures and have a high degree of critical thinking= is that not nursing!! And that 'one unified group/union/organization' should be more powerful than the AMA, and the trade unions. Should it not?
You say it in a nutshell. Problem is, RN's, people in general, are scared of change. I don't know what it will take to wake this country up and get fed up with the status quo. As a single payer nation, all the incentives for profit leechs is gone and dollars really go to health care. If there are problems with this sytem after activated, then lets by God fix them! At least let us try to do something different, bold, and about dang time! All of us need to take control of our own and our childrens destiny and DO something. As for unions for nursing, why not? Charters can also be changed and union leaders voted out. Again, try something, don't be scared to make a change. Doing nothing means your hiding, hoping it get better without you.
Profit leeches gone? Drug companies have successfully lobbied to prevent the importation of less expensive drugs. They are in cahoots with the government.
Why not unions. Because nurses are not labor. Unless we want to give up twenty years of hard work toward becoming recognized as professionals...
Short staffing should ALWAYS be documented, along with a phone call to the Department of Health. My state has a 1 800 number to call - when I worked in a nurse unionized hospital- that number was called ALL the time. we staff nurses had 'short staffing forms' we filled out, called the 1 800 number, notified nursing supervion we were filling out the form, the supervisor had to sign the form, the form was handed into the union officer or steward, the union investigated the insident, and it went through the process(greivience) from there- if nurses were cancelled(whether scheduled or OT sign up) if the union won the greivence- the nurse who lost the hours was paid for hours lost. The union won most of these. This, plus benefits and retirement benefits are 3 main reasons why administrations don't like unions- the administration suddenly becomes ACCOUNTABLE. When short staffing is documented(union or non union) you have notified the administration that conditions are unsafe, and they are now the bearers of the responsiblility and accountable!!
The union I was a member of started out back in the early 1980's- it was a radical idea back then. Our officers and shopstewards grew into their positions- with training and workshops, they learned the rules of the labor and were on the dirty tactics of management. They were a cohesive team- they worked hard for us. They put the breaks on us med/surg nurses being pulled to maternity,peds- places we were not oriented to go to. It helped bring about the crostraining issue- if you want a nurse to float/ crosstrain the nurse. Orientations became more organized and detailed. Not here's your PPD, here's your book and there's your unit, go to work. Nursing salaries were brought up to a respectable level. The issue back then that was not addressed was the lateral violence/bullying, eating thier young. It's 30 years later nurses are more polically savy, especially with the nursing employment situation and lateral violence has come out of the closet.
the question is...how do we wish to wield out political power. the ama is a professional organization with divisions/affiliations by specialty. its function is supportive of doctors, protecting them from harm, when they mess up!
we have a professional organization. iirc, fewer than 10% of nurses are members. if we want nursing to be a profession, then we should join and build our power there. service workers, electricians, carpenters, steel workers, concrete workers, plumbers, all have unions. doctors, architects, engineers, and scientists all have their own professional organizations.
what is the difference between the workers with unions and the workers with professional organizations? the former perform work that requires training, attention to detail, and focus on tasks and procedure. the latter perform work that requires a great deal of critical thought.
I feel that overall, nurses do not benefit from union membership. I have and will again find employement elsewhere if my current employement depends on maintaining union membership. Stating my reasons would not benefit this thread. Instead I will point out one of the advantages that union hospitals have over non-union hospitals.
Nursing leadership must maintain their direct patient care skills. I have always found it easier to explain why something will or will not work to someone who has recent bedside care experience. The reason nursing leadership must maintain those skills is because of the possibility of a strike.
Can a unionist say something nice about non-union institutions as compared to union hospitals?
It's very difficult to say anything nice about a non-union institution-with the current happenings in the nursing job market. Big bucks for CEO's salaries, perks and bene's, nurses out of jobs. Nurses terminated 'at will' 'not a good fit' aka. personality crap. This has knd of sunk the management battle ship. These are not little faux pau's these are major - illegal labor practices and swindling, stealing,embeseling, money laundering, profiteering. For better or worst- unions tend to be watchdogs. a union is only as good as it's membership- you have to be involved, being a union member is NOT a spectator sport.(you need to voice your needs and wishes to your union leadership and contract negotion team. They usually send out a survey long before the union contract is up to find out what us, the members want from management- job security, pensions, salary increases, MANAGER responses and action to NURSING concerns/short staffing accountability, it's not all about money- working conditions are a big part of it too- break and lunch times with coverage, vacation, personal days, bearevement days, sick time)managers must watch the way they speak to you, union representation during diciplines, counselings. Ligitimate reasons for terminations(Like stealing a boatload of narc and killing patients/malpractice not this 'not a good' fit crap because they don't like your scrubs or your too old)
Can a unionist say something nice about non-union institutions as compared to union hospitals?
Yes. It's generally less common to find someone who's just barely going through the motions and doing the minimum they can get away with under a contract. As a nurse manager related to me: "I get these folks who are real go-getters and busting their butts... until their first day off of probation."
In a unionized organization, it is not uncommon to find senior people who are lazy, unproductive, and quarrelsome but who cannot be removed simply because of their seniority. In my experience, however, they are the minority.
It's very difficult to say anything nice about a non-union institution-with the current happenings in the nursing job market. Big bucks for CEO's salaries, perks and bene's, nurses out of jobs. Nurses terminated 'at will' 'not a good fit' aka. personality crap. This has knd of sunk the management battle ship. These are not little faux pau's these are major - illegal labor practices and swindling, stealing,embeseling, money laundering, profiteering. For better or worst- unions tend to be watchdogs. a union is only as good as it's membership- you have to be involved, being a union member is NOT a spectator sport.(you need to voice your needs and wishes to your union leadership and contract negotion team. They usually send out a survey long before the union contract is up to find out what us, the members want from management- job security, pensions, salary increases, MANAGER responses and action to NURSING concerns/short staffing accountability, it's not all about money- working conditions are a big part of it too- break and lunch times with coverage, vacation, personal days, bearevement days, sick time)managers must watch the way they speak to you, union representation during diciplines, counselings. Ligitimate reasons for terminations(Like stealing a boatload of narc and killing patients/malpractice not this 'not a good' fit crap because they don't like your scrubs or your too old)
That's interesting, but not really what I was saying. The two sides of a coin are not so much opposite as complimentary. Really, other than as a joke item, do you really want a two-headed coin?
We nurses need to be united, my experience is that unions make for a lover's triangle. We should dump the mistress and work on our relationship.
Now, how any cliches does it take to get an honest conversation? A national union with a leadership structure that has recent and concurent bedside care experience, would be awesome. That way, union leadership would be accountable for their decisions. I would hope that would translate a communication with management where they understood that what is in my best interest is in their best interest.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
I feel that overall, nurses do not benefit from union membership. I have and will again find employement elsewhere if my current employement depends on maintaining union membership. Stating my reasons would not benefit this thread. Instead I will point out one of the advantages that union hospitals have over non-union hospitals.
Nursing leadership must maintain their direct patient care skills. I have always found it easier to explain why something will or will not work to someone who has recent bedside care experience. The reason nursing leadership must maintain those skills is because of the possibility of a strike.
Can a unionist say something nice about non-union institutions as compared to union hospitals?
I can say a lot of good about one non-union hospital.
Nurses, housekeepers, and ALL are respected for the work they do.
Staffing is determined by collaboration between the nurse caring for the patient and th charge nurse. If they ask for more staff they get it.
Lots of excellent classes to keep staff up to date.
All, including physicians are expected to treat each other well. An MD specialist was taken off staff after his third time yelling at a secretary. (He couldn't believe his bringing busine$$ didn't mitigate his abuse)
Same for nurses and other staff.
At a well run hospital where workers are respected a union has no chance.
Respecting nurses means proving sufficient staff and equipment to truly care for patients as we learned to do in nursing school.
K.P.A.
205 Posts
If you don't document short staffing and patients die as a result...who does the legal community (who by the way employs a professional organization...NOT a union.. to get things done) come after? No one...because you've got no money. If you've documented, they'll go after those evil rich bastard employers of yours and put them out of business.