So I'm facing an issue at this hospital I'm working at in Long Beach. I signed a contract for 13 weeks, 48 hours a week with Fastaff and have been here about 8 weeks. Apparently they have been in negotiations with their union for months now trying to get better pay, more benefits etc for their nurses but it isn't going well. The hospital is playing hardball and the union is proposing an imminent strike. There is one last day they will negotiate and then they will strike if an agreement is not made.
My first issue is the fact that the hospital suddenly started pulling in tons of travel nurses in the past 6-8 weeks when staff says previously they almost never used any travelers. So why suddenly start using all of us now? Because they were preparing for the probability of a strike of course. So my problem is that all of us regular travel nurses are here under false pretenses and the staff is asking us questions about if we'll cross the picket line and are we going to be scabs? Charge nurses have even made remarks about giving us terrible assignments if we cross the line, etc.
I've never worked a strike and never really wanted to. When I called my agent she was very elusive about what my rights would be if they went on strike during my contract. She wouldn't clearly state if I would be allowed to not work that week, or would I be penalized? Would they withhold my pay and housing stipend that week? That's a significant amount of money I would be out of pocket when I have no horse in this race so to speak.
My agent did say something about me being welcomed to cross the line and they would even raise the pay (slightly) to compensate a little. I can't imagine the S**t storm I'd be dealing with on this 39 bed super critical ICU when I would suddenly become one of the most senior nurses there. They even said I would probably be the charge nurse!
Anybody been in this situation before or have any relevant insight to my situation?
Travel nurses at Stanford are going through the same thing you are as of Friday. I know Fast Staff, places nurses there also.
I left Stanford in February to come here. I ran into some very bad interim management there. In the IR/Radiology dept they had their manager leave suddenly and without a replacement hired yet they let the charge nurses just start hiring/making the schedule and it was disastrous. Imagine the film Mean Girls except middle aged and unattractive. They were losing staff left and right there, at least in the area I was working.
I'm still friends with a lot of the nurses/staff there and they even drove down to visit last week but I would be careful of Stanford. Overall the hospital seemed to be ran well and people were happy there but for the higher up management to let unqualified and not properly educated people run a dept into the ground like they did, that shows negligence.
So what happened? It's now a week after your original posts...are you gonna give us the update? Feel like I'm watching a soap opera. ;-)
The nurses voted to authorize the union to strike. The union is giving the hospital a last ditch effort to concede and give them what they want by a certain day next week. If they refuse they are required to give a 10 day notice to the hospital for the start of the strike. So it's all still in Limbo. I'll update you when it's a certain thing.
Hi, Bottlemed. Would you like to give me the list of hospitals in Dallas that offer direct contracts? I am planning to move to Dallas in this September. I will pray for your well-being/happieness for three month every night......:)
If you do plan to work the strike and staffing becomes unsafe - I would make sure I was communicating this (written) to your travel agency on a daily basis - and following the proper chain of commands with any concerns (for your own liability)
They keep deliberating and extending the deadline for the hospital to give them their demands. This is the first time I've been in a hospital that is trying to strike, is this normal? I swear they've been going back in forth on this for 6 weeks.
They keep deliberating and extending the deadline for the hospital to give them their demands. This is the first time I've been in a hospital that is trying to strike, is this normal? I swear they've been going back in forth on this for 6 weeks.
Yes, totally normal. It could go on for months. You will be done before it happens.
Wolf at the Door, BSN
1,045 Posts
Travel nurses at Stanford are going through the same thing you are as of Friday. I know Fast Staff, places nurses there also.