Nursing Unions-what is the good,bad, ugly?

Nurses General Nursing

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anyone in a nursing union w/in your facility? what is the good, bad, ugly?

Specializes in Critical Care, M/S, Post partum, Ortho.

I worked in a large hospital in MA when we unionized in the early 80's. The hospital spent mega bucks trying to fight it and threatened us with firing if we even mentioned the "U" word on hospital property. No one had to join which caused a lot of resentment since the union benefited all RNs, not just those who joined. Pay scales became public, benefits increased and, seniority offered protection which was great for me when they down-sized the staff. Gradually we lost power since we had a no strike clause in our contract. None of us ever would have walked out on our patients and the hospital used that to their advantage.

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Every nurse in every state should be in a union. This shouldn't even be a question. Every major labor sector in this country has a strong union representing them. Even the guy who checks your bags at the airport is in a union. Nurses have to decide what their skills are worth. Why should a nurse in the midwest make $25 hour when a union carpenter makes over $50 hour with great medical and pension benefits. The reason is that he is in a union. Nursing is the only profession that is not organized. Why? Maybe because its run by women. Women who traditionally under value themselves and have no clue on how to compete in a man's world. You want empowerment? Join a union! I went from making 65K in the midwest to 112K in California with guaranteed 6% per year increase for the next three years. We have a patient ratio law of no more than 5:1, soon to go to 4:1 In addition, I am no longer an AT WILL EMPLOYEE to be disciplined at the whim of my supervisor. So for all you hard working nurses out their, guess what, you probably make less money than a plumber with a GED and one year of tech school. :angryfire

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i think the good one who can live in harmoney with every body & every thing the bad one who deos not know to do the same the ugly one who prevent the good to live in harmoey & prevent the bad to be able to be good:redpinkhe:up::idea:

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I am union. I've seen both sides. I worked at a grocery store in 2003 when the huge strike happened and we were out of work for 8 months. I made 7.15/hr prior to this btw, but at least I had health benefits. The only reason I worked at this grocery store was for the benefits. 7.15/hr isn't much in California. So I went to LVN school. I then got a union job at a University. My salary wasn't fantastic, but once again, the benefits were great.

Now I'm an RN, I work Union, and I must say that the contract is very decent and fair. The facility I am at expects all nurses to do their work, and will not hesitate to take appropriate action if it doesn't occur.

I am not covering the more experienced nurses, we all help each other to get the work done. I will not hesitate to help another nurse if I have the time and vice versa.

I must say my salary, my benefits commemorate what I believe my knowledge to be, and I honestly believe that ALL nurses are taking a hit when they say "they love their job, and aren't concerned with money."

The reality is we may love our jobs, but we work VERY hard, and we have a direct effect on patient's outcomes.

If nurses do not value themselves and find methods of protecting their rights to adequate salaries/benefits, no one else certainly will. Regardless of location and cost of living I don't believe any nurse should be making below mid-20's/hr salary. We impact lives and we most certainly save them. We most certainly give up a part of ourselves as nurses, and we should be somehow reciprocated as such.

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I work in a nonunion hospital where a union has been trying to get voted in. I personally do not want to be part of a union, but I can understand the appeal to the other nurses at this facility. This union, if voted in, promises several things, including the implementation of a nurse/pt. ratio based on levels of acuity classification(which is a great idea). If hospitals want to keep out the unions, then they need to address the problems in nursing care in their facilities that are presented to them by the nursing staff, rather than hiring consulting groups that recommend implementing a "Rounding w/ a Purpose" program where nurses will make q hr rounds(which my hospital plans to do). By the way, this hospital is in Texas and it is HCA.

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

This is the first time I have worked in the union state. My salary is higher but most of it is eaten up by union dues. They want me to work as a negotiator with employees who have been wrongfully terminated and I told them I would but my fee is $125 per hour. But they expect me to give my time for free, which I don't do. So, in a nutshell, they have not done much for me.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
Requiring someone to join a union is like requiring someone to join the Republican or Democratic Party, or mandating someone join the First Baptist Church, it goes against the Freedom of Choice-Freedom of Association that I believe is an integral part of being an American.

There's always going to be requirements with jobs that take away flexibility. If you don't like the requirement of joining a union when you start working for a hospital, make the choice not to work for a unionized facility. You have that freedom of choice. Unions are generally all or none.

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Hey BamaBound and for other unhappy nurses as well who dislike unions--if you aren't happy with the hard earned Benefits Union Nurses enjoy why not simply refuse the benefits(higher salaries, Seniority rights on shift &vacation preference, increased vacation time, Floating, lower nurse patient ratios, increased educational benefits and pensions plans) ? Oh and when you turn 62 years old(66 in some cases) simply refuse Social Security and Medicare (also the GI Bill of Rights for returning servicemen & women in which Unions were instrumental in attaining way back when) as the Unions were very instrumental in developing these programs(SS/Medicare) as well back in the late 30s early 40s ...

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I haven't read all the posts on this thread, so sorry if this is a repeat..

I haven't always been a union person. In fact the last facility I worked at, I had a wage DECREASE. A few of the team members sold about a dozen or so of us down the river so THEY could get a better wage. After that, I dropped the union. It made up for what I lost in wages. ;)

Fast forward to my current job:

Currently, I'm on our negotiating team for our upcoming contract. We team members put in a lot of FREE time to make sure that the contract is fair for everyone. No selling anyone down the river at this facility.

So, if you don't like your contract, don't blame the union, blame your fellow nurses who are the ones calling the shots on the contract. If the team members don't agree, then it's not in the contract. I really never understood how it worked until now. So..if you have complaints, join the committee.

Personally, unions have their pro's and cons, but I'd rather be union (with good team members on board) than non union.

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Specializes in ICU/ER/L&D.

I live in a non-unionized, right-to-work state. It would be more accurate to call it a right-to-get-fired-unjustly state. I watched 30+ excellent nurses who had been with the hospital for 15+ years be "let go". Mysteriously, it was only those nurses who had reached salary caps whose positions were "downsized"- and of course no hiring freeze for new grads. I am not against new grads, but this led to all sorts of foolishness on the floors. The experienced nurses (i.e. valuable resources) were gone, the new grads took over, and those of us with a moderate amount of experience had to try to mentor many, many people. I love teaching, and I love mentoring, but where is the balance between experience and wisdom, and those needing training? It led to a vicious cycle where new grads could not be fully mentored due to not enough preceptors, and quit.

A strong union would have stood up for the rights of those with experience. This would not have happened. In an attempt to save $, the hospital lost one of its most precious resources, it's experienced staff. Seeing where the cycle was headed, I went to work elsewhere. There are a few floors that still haven't recovered from administration's last brilliant cost-saving strategy. I would hop on the union bandwagon so quickly if it existed in our state.

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How much are the union dues?? There is a good chance the place I work at will be going union, and I need to know what it is going to cost me.

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Union dues vary but on average, figure around $1.00 + change per day. $30-$40 monthly

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