My girlfriends nursing home has new owners. The nurses who have been employed the longest are getting picked off fast by supervisors for minor accusations all they way up to "patient abuse". There are only about 5 long time nurses left now and they are all scared that we are going to be out of a job with a black mark on their records. I keep telling her to leave now before they find a way to fire her as it will be harder to get a job once fired.
well, it is unfortunate and very wrong when truly abusive and/or unsafe employees continue to retain their jobs. however, the union does good things (as i described in my earlier post). there have been times when employees stand up for themselves, speak their minds, report unsafe behavior, report violations by peers. those peers never seem to suffer any discipline....due to being some manager's favorite. in fact, the one who reported the wrong-doer is the one who suffers retaliation(by the manager as well as the wrong-doer) and that is when it's nice to have a union.
Specializes in Chiropractic assistant, CNA in LTC, RN.
I moved to NC 18 years ago from south Florida. Florida supports unions in many different fields but NC is a "no union" state. You can't even mention the word "union" if you work in a textile mill. I can tell you from personal experience that FL workers have way more rights and way more job protection than NC workers do and that is largely due to unions. Unions serve a purpose and I'd love to have a nurse's union in NC.
i'm not at all surprised i got blasted here...the bill of rights?? at least have a valid argument. we should get back to the original topic.
i know the idea may seem alien to some (such as yourself); but the argument about fairness is germane to the ethics and ideals as set forth by the bill of rights, something that a few employers may try very hard to sidestep. need i remind you that:
"here's another point of view: perhaps the long term employees were not working as hard or as fast or as well as they should and it took a fresh set of eyes to see that. unions are only for bad employees who can't stand on their own."
...was your original input. it was your sidebar to begin with and now that you don't like the response, you're ducking the issue which you brought up yourself? lol... rather insightful; i can appreciate the reasons perhaps why your organization doesn't historically do well with independent arbitration.
further, i suspect that had there been a union at the op's location, this thread would not even be here at all.
Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
I suggested getting back to the original topic so as not to be accused of thread hi jacking. If all y'all like and need unions fine. My facility treats everyone fairly. All the places I've worked for has treated people fairly union or no. I'm sure if I were pro union you wouldn't have bothered to sling yet another barb. Unite if you want...march...picket....just do your job and take care of your patients.
While unquestionably there is corruption, coercion & self-servingness in the unions, in general the workplace is heavily stacked in favor of management with at-will employment, large numbers of visas allowed for foreign workers (most countries don't allow that) & finally, in most cases the company has much better (at least more expensive) lawyers than the employee does should it come to litigation. So just as the union protects bad employees, too many times a bad manager can ruin an employee & the company in most cases takes management's side. I wont mind letting a bad employee keep his/her job if that means all employees have protection against their reputation & livelihood destroyed by some jealous, insecure, vindictive or plain stupid manager. Unions do bring some checks & balances. It is an imperfect world, we don't have perfect management, we wont have perfect unions.
nursinger
129 Posts
i soooo agree with you!