nurse strikes

ZeeGeez7300, ASN, BSN · May 30, 2008

If these workers are so anti-union, they should refuse their overtime pay, refuse paid holidays, refuse paid statutory holiday pay, refuse health and dental benefits and they should refuse disability pay if they should ever become injured.

Unions got these rights for workers.

I don't get paid time-off( noone does really, most employees have to earn time-off by working), I pay for my benefits (including disabilty and every other insurance), I CHOOSE NOT to work holidays and overtime (so the pay is irrelevant). However, I am not anti-union. I am against nurses trying to judge another nurse because they are 'working their profession' in a different manner than you. We are created equally Some want to fight from the outside in, and some want to fight from the inside out...Is it not still a fight?

aeauooo · May 30, 2008

Zenman,

I'm not sure what "blanket statement" I made to which you responded.

Me_Me:

Your moniker is appropriate. I have no idea what you are responding to, but it has nothing to do with the point I've made.

zenman · May 31, 2008

Zenman,
I'm not sure what "blanket statement" I made to which you responded.

This one but I might I read it wrong. Point is that unfortunately, we also have "bad" nurses and they are not always interested in improving the quality of their care. No offense to those who do care.

If you feel okay scabbing, that's your business, but keep in mind that you are undermining the efforts of permanent staff to improve the quality of care they can deliver and their ability to act as patient advocates.

ZeeGeez7300, ASN, BSN · May 31, 2008

I apologize, Aeauooo, what is your point? I think that I have addressed every point that I have read relative to the question, as graciously and professionally as I know to be. I just put 'MY interpretation of the situation' in response to the INITIAL question (and 'stood my ground' on the others). I didn't know that I was signing in to be 'tarred and feathered' by fellow nurses. That's cool, but my choice is even more un-waivered. Let's just say, we agree that we disagree.

mscsrjhm · May 31, 2008

There was a question earlier re RN/LPN unions- has anyone ever heard of an LPN union? All nursing unions I have knowledge of (not many) only represent RNs.

Anyone know?

aeauooo · May 31, 2008

This one but I might I read it wrong. Point is that unfortunately, we also have "bad" nurses and they are not always interested in improving the quality of their care. No offense to those who do care.

In general, when nurses strike, they are trying to improve their situation.

Me-Me,

The point is that nurses strike for a reason, or for many reasons. When you break a strike you are placing the striking nurses at a disadvantage - you defeat the purpose of the strike.

You are working for the hospital - not the patients - and working against your colleagues.

As has been pointed out in previous posts on this thread, the union notifies the hospital the strike so they can transfer patients out or discharge them. Patient care is not an issue.

IckuRN, RN · Oct 9, 2010

i have some questions on nurse strikes. please no flaming, i am truly curious. i am in my 2nd semester of nursing school and have been interested in travel nursing, and many people say they would travel but never:nono: cross a picket line...so i have some questions. you won't get a response to this subject without someone flaming, it's touchy, like all politics. union nurses v/s strike nurses? you have to decide who is the bad guy, and i personally believe everyone it out for "numero uno" and that's just how the world works.

strikes are not the noble advocating for better patient care crap people want you to believe...there's always some 401k double matching added to it, for example, and it just so happens that a holiday is involved. nurses who are that upset about substandard care and benefits find somewhere better to work. read any union benefits package, you would be surprised at the load of perks! i never saw the best care in union facilities, btw.

strike nursing is not how you want to begin your travel career! it is not the same as travel nursing, and you need awesome skills to do either and not end up in a lawsuit or fired. and, some strikes pay less than the employees make, research the sutter strike 2007.
you need at least a year of experience to travel, and some contracts deny first time travelers, so keep this in mind. travel nursing can be awesome or horrific, depending on what you want to gain. if it is money you are looking for, then you should take a prn or flex job in northern ca, ny, etc.

when nurses strike what happens to the patients in the hospital at the time? strikes happen when the nursing union contract comes up for renewal, and everyone knows the dates. the hospital scales down the number of patients as much as possible, but not doing procedures, etc. they try not to admit during the strike.
do they just go without care? well, this is debatable. while the patient is 20% more likely to die during or related to a strike, they will have a nurse caring for them. whether ratios are expanded to cut costs are included in this statistic is unknown, but some strikes have prn staff plus replacement nurses to prevent any adverse events.
are they transferred to another hospital? whoever had the patient last gets the medicare check, so i don't think this is widely practiced, but i don't know.
why is it unwise for a travel nurse to fill in for striking nurses? personal safety, liability of patient care with inadequate orientation to facility, risk of not getting paid.
doesn't someone have to care for the pts while the nurses are striking? yes, exactly. in a world where patient care is suppose to come first, you would think there would be better alternatives.
why would it be such a bad thing to do, aren't the travel nurses just filling in til the regular nurses get the strike over. i have "some vague sort of info (ok maybe not?)" of strikes, that the strike can go longer, and takes more time to get the point across if someone else comes in and does the work. but don't travel nurses get paid a ton more so the obvious choice is the hospital just use them til the nurse strike is over....right? they would obviously want their full time nurses back...right? please help me see the bigger picture of all this without anyone getting mad. it is up to you to decide if it is good or bad, and who cares what anyone else thinks about it! if you don't want to deal with the union/strike mess, avoid all union hospitals or avoid union hospitals that are up for renewal during your contract.

no. while travel/local agency nurses are usually welcomed by the staff as a whole at facilities, scabs are never. there is no patient is this fight, it's the nurses v/s the facility, and that's it! replacement nurses are on the side of the facility, aka, the enemy. travel nurses are just there to fill a staffing need, and sometimes they are awesome and staff wants them to re-up!
the strikes can be extended, but are mostly canceled or resolved after a day. not always, sometimes the replacement nurses are paid much less. more often travelers are paid much less! most of these nurses can fight being fired because they have union protection, so the hospitals have to take the full timers back. however, managers will recruit from replacement pools sometimes.
hope this helps!

Oceanablue · Sep 10, 2011

I understand the need for nurses to stick together but honestly from my experiences when I first started, I never saw nurse unity. I took a spot on MED SURG since everyone said thats were you need to start and the nursing staff were mean, not helpful, spiteful and vindictive towards each other. Besides that you had the nursing assistants just as vicious because where there is no respect begets no respect. It is survival of the fittest. I am not the only one, as a matter of fact most new grad nurses feel the same, hence the terminology "Nurses eat there young". Now with that being said, why now would I feel unity with the same field that eats their young. We all know when you strike it is pretty dire, and no one wants to cross the line but the patients need care while you guys are battling it out. First and foremost, they come before ANY issues the nurses and management are having, and I do mean ANY. Secondly , the nurses are getting compensated very lucratively which lets face it, pays bills. While your fighting you do not know what the Strike nurse has going on , what bills , debts and responsibilities they have. So put on your grown up diapers and deal with it, I say. They eventually will leave and regular staff will come back.

Oceanablue · Sep 10, 2011

This response is to a poster who was referring to Nurse Unity not to IcKu Rn,