Suedern

:smackingf Well, PLEASE, don't come to my city or for that matter my hospital. Again I see that judgemental side of you. Not one person at any of our hospitals are forced to pay union dues. I choose to pay union dues because I have seen how the union has improved my work conditions. I am disappointed that others choose not to. That is their decision. I'm quite happy to pay an avg. of 1 hours wages a month to support that. Especially when it has helped me get better wages, health insurance, etc.. It looks to me you need to do a little more research on unions and shops. Your comments sound like typical managements misinformation!

Gee Steph, I'm really confused. Judgemental? Do you even reread your own comments? "they had on suits that looked like the mafia and wore rings with big "rocks". HMMMM!! You obviously didn't give those suits the time of day or even bothered to listen to them without "judgement". And of course your not afraid of your employer because you probably jump ship for the slightest of reasons. Why don't you elaborate on how you made your workplace a better place? That is, not for yourself, but your coworker and the patients you care for. And by the way, I haven't seen the word "stupid" in any of these threads. And I have reread mine and don't see it. Would you care to correct that comment? sandi

any person with commen since know that their are bad companies and good companies. bad ones put money before adequate care, safe care, and and keeping their employees work enviroment a safe and healthy place to work. and of course good companies actually make a profit because of less turn over, and shorter stays, and a mirad of other reasons mentioned throughout these threads and articles. i would still like to see how those staunch nonunion supporters have helped make their work enviroment a better place to work. your the ones that won't stand up to management and risk your job and put you foot down and say this is not safe, not right. aren't you the ones with your masters and doctorates that could lay out the research and at least try to convince them. no, because your the one who probably moved up in your positon because of merit. or your that charge or unit director who stands by and sees those "slaves" working their tails off, without breaks, bathroom time, or lunch, and will turn your head when you see their ship sinking. and will turn around and say to that nurse, "if you told me, i would have helped you", or "you should have asked for help". what? you mean those people can't tell when their nurses aren't sinking. road trips to radiology, both patients intubated, both patients on vasopressors and 15 min. vitals, both with diarrhea, both with biligernt families, poor iv access, meds not delivered timely and having to go down how many floors to the basement. anything else? of course their is. i'de also like to see that staunch nonunion member out their fighting for better legislation for better and safer care. if more of you stood up for what was right for every patient out there, you probably would not need unions. but, as you see in hospitals trying to decert unions(i say hospitals, because what nurse actually would, in good conscence start one?), the majority of nurses who don't sign the decerts probably know deep down the the union has made care better for them and their patients. what good chg nurse or unit director who has treated their workers in the way management tells them too,can actually sleep at night? in response to the big diamonds that the seiu wear. what? are you a jeweler? you probably couldn't tell the difference between a rock and a piece of glass. that's the kind of talk that sound very uneducated, or silly union busting talk.

being a member of seiu in las vegas through 4 contracts has taught me a lesson. you get nothing if you do nothing. wether you support your fellow coworker quietly, or are out there on a picket line, or being captian or steward, or loosing your job to protect your fellow coworkers and patients by standing up for what is right. it's those people who make a difference in the lives of thousands of workers, their families and their patients. where are the nonunion people? i don't see you making a difference in the lives of your fellow coworkers, families and patients. your the ones who are probably recieving that merit raise because you supported management in trying to intimidate your fellow coworkers. but god forbid you stand up for what is right. wether its having better and safer care for your patients or seeing your fellow coworker who is as good as you, if not better, get the same raise you did? merit raise? give me a break! i saw pennies for raises. i saw my halfway decent hmo change numerous times, to the point that most doctor refuses to accept it. but atleast those who choose to stay with that free hmo (that the nurses of seiu have fought so hard to get) should know that atleast without those nurses who came forward and fought for it,you would still be paying, if not more and getting less. maybe with a more visible show of support, those who pay for so much with their ppo's, we can also see some relief in our monthly copays. but that's not all. name any article in any hospital/union contract and you'll see improvements through out. from floating policies that float nurse to any floor without consideration for experiance, to unsafe staffing, to just having the right to be in the union. who do you think was behind the kentucky river legislation? do you think they were looking out for your best interest? i don't think so! sit in on any bargaining and see who is looking out for the best interest of everyone concerned. sure as #@!$% isn't the employer! so in response to a comment i have heard in the past, about "what has the union done for me?" first,they have no first hand knowledge because the have never done anything for or with the nurses that make their union, so they have no right to disparage those nurses who make their place of employment a safer and better place to work. second, if you don't like your raise or retro or better everything, return it to the employer and ask for that merit raise! oh, and sit on those patient care committees beside the employer and not make it better for the patients.

I am a RN in Las Vegas, Nv. and fully support my union the SEIU. I have worked for a facility here for atleast 15 years. Rarely saw a raise prior to the union organizing in my hospital. The raises I saw where in the 5 cent range. Thankyou very much. After organizing we started seeing real raises in the $2-$4 ranges, improvements in our insurance(atleast HMO's premiums for employee and familys are paid for now), floating issues are being addressed, the Kentucky River is now being tackled, and hopefully safe staffing ratios can one day be like Ca. and Washingtons. And thats only a few of the numerous issues that are being battled for by the nurses who belong to a union. I become angry that other nurses complain that the union doesn't do anything for them. Have they even looked back to see what they have gained from the hard work of the NURSES who belong to a union? Have they walked beside that union NURSE who stood up for them when they would not? It's one thing to complain and another to help. But those nurses who complain and not look at thatNURSE in the face and admit that its the bad employer who takes away and beats down moral and not address the actual issues affecting the patients and nurses. Have they asked themselves why their employer battles them to NOT do the right thing? My hope one day is to make hospitals accountable for the care they actually give. I also hope one day hospitals are run by nurses and not people holding business degrees where the bottom line is the biggest profit going to only few.

Got all excited(or maybe it was an anxiety attack) when I saw the name MILLER. At first I thought it was the Miller that owns UHS based out of King Of Prussia,Pa.. But, alas, it was not. Just wondering if they are related. Or are all CEO's and owners of hospitals morons. I imagine ALAN MILLER making the comment "if I could I'de run this hospitaal without nurses". "Renown Robes" and "King of Prussia" smack of [evil]bosom buddies[/evil]. And, if your aware of the fight down in Las Vegas at Desert Springs Hosp. and Vallery Hosp. to keep their union(SEIU), the unions colors are purple and yellow. My name tag collar and buttons would match and I would never have to buy purple scrubs again if I worked at Renown. Maybe its all a cowinkadink.

I am hoping to correct the misconsception of a "number of strikes going on in L.V". Desert and Valley Hosp. have not striked! They were "locked out" by the employer. Our community legislators helped devert the strike. The nurses agreed to a cooling off period. UHS initially "declined" the first offer of a "30 day cooling of period"by Mayor Oscar Goodman. Well that did not go over well. So the Governor, Assembly Speaker, County Comissioner have also stepped in and managed to encourage UHS to a "60 day cooling off period". As of this day the first 30 have passed without progress. I am getting lots of coworkers asking if we will have to have another vote to strike. I HOPE NOT! What UHS refuses to even address is the Staffing Ratios. I am wondering also about what resolving this for the patients sake means. I see better ratios as better care and better patient outcomes. UHS sees ratios as "just don't work". Could they explain that a little better? And for the patients sake, the county makes sure a hospital is well staffed for if and when a strike notice is given. If they are not, patients are sent to other facilities, elective surgeries aren't scheduled,etc.. What happens if this continues is that patients,as before, continue to suffer and we as nurses put our nursing licences at risk.

As a registered nurse in Las Vegas for the majority of my 24 yrs, I reccommend ST. Roses three facilities first, then Sunrises facilities second, UMC as a third choice. And what they all have in commen is that they are union! Not all of Sunrise facilities are union though so be sure when you apply. The reason I reccommend union facilities is that the contracts address staffing ratios(not sure about UMC) in one way or another and have retirement/pensions/401K's. Not to mention a slew of articles that protect your workplace and enviroment. There is also no secrets in salaries, just call and ask or call the local SEIU. But if applying at other facilities make sure you ask about their floating policies, on-call, charge and precepting pay. I'm sure they will be no where near the union facilities. I also reccommend doing it soon because the most desirable and day shift positions seem to be filling fast. I am already finding that out.