opinions on nurses going on strike

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I want to know all of your opinions on nurses going on strike. Do you feel like aspiring nurses should be worried when hearing of all these strikes going on? I just don't understand since nurses being the backbone of a hospital have to fight for their rights.

It could. But like Jensmom said, if it is a big concern don't work at a union hospital.

Healthcare is a business and they are there to make money(even the nonprofits) they will make cuts wherever they can. Since nursing takes up most of the budget, it's the first place to see cuts. Unfortunately, pt safety can be adversely affected by cuts to nursing, but nurses often won't argue too much because they want to be perceived as having compassion.

My advice if you do choose a union shop is don't cross the line when your coworkers are out there sacrificing pay to get you safer staffing or health insurance worth a darn.

Ok. Thanks for the advice.

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Specializes in Hospice.

OP, when I tried to look up your previous posts to get a sense of who you are, the connection to both your activity and your posts got the message, "connection to local host blah blah refused.

Maybe it's just my phone, but who are you and why do you want to know? This is a public forum and many of our employers have been known to fire workers known to be union supporters.

ETA: personally, I hope that anyone actively involved in a union drive would think twice about posting anything about it on a public board.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.

During a 40 year career, I was only on strike once. A strike is always a choice of last resort. When I was on strike, our union recommended a tentative agreement and the nurses were so angry we voted it down and stayed out for another 1 1/2 weeks. Professionnal travelers or (scabs) as we call them cleaned out the narcotic box twice. Only vote yes to strike if you are emotionally and financially prepared to follow through.

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Specializes in OB.
During a 40 year career, I was only on strike once. A strike is always a choice of last resort. When I was on strike, our union recommended a tentative agreement and the nurses were so angry we voted it down and stayed out for another 1 1/2 weeks. Professionnal travelers or (scabs) as we call them cleaned out the narcotic box twice. Only vote yes to strike if you are emotionally and financially prepared to follow through.

Nurseactivist: Just want to make a point here. Professional travelers are NOT the same thing as scabs. I've been a traveler for 19 yrs. and have never worked a strike - never have, never will. I chose to work with a company which does not staff strikes. "Scabs" are a small subset of travelers.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.
Nurseactivist: Just want to make a point here. Professional travelers are NOT the same thing as scabs. I've been a traveler for 19 yrs. and have never worked a strike - never have, never will. I chose to work with a company which does not staff strikes. "Scabs" are a small subset of travelers.

Thank you for clarifying. Yes there are many travelers who do not cross picket lines. However, there are traveling agencies that are specifically set up to break strikes and that is who I was referring to.

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