tadpolern

RN4Mercy, Can you please send any good Nursing Union to 'raid', as you say, a few of the hospitals in Birmingham, AL. Like UAB, Cooper Green. They need them. Some of the staff RNs have been placed on the exempt status and have no rights. No overtime, no call pay which are being mandated to take. I think AL RNs need to unionize immediately. How can we help them?

mmuligan23 Thank you also. We have contacted ASNA and ABN. No help frome the ABN persay...I wouldnt like the idea of being forced to go on a strike either...but I also dont like the idea of an unsafe patient/nurse environment. Nurses are the patients advocate. If the standard on any unit borders on being overworked, underpaid, disrespected, given no breaks, no lunches, no bathroom breaks, no time off for education, tossed from their own specialty area to work, given too many patients to feasibly care for properly and safely.....Id rather have the union, than risk a poor outcome with a patient due to unreasonable work conditions. We would have a voice in the patients best interest..and the nurses best interest.Too many hospitals are run by management that have never even worked as a staff nurse successfully and couldnt it they had too. Wow, I am venting a bit.

Thanks herring RN, I like what I read !

mmulligan23, Thanks for your input. I dont like the idea of having a union...but in certain situations, it's the lesser of the 2 evils. I take it from your comments you would not join a union. I probably would not as a new RN, but as a seasoned RN, seeing what I'm seeing...in my opinion, we need a voice. Good luck in your career.

You are not alone..........You are not alone.........You are not alone..........

Things are going downhill quickly for RNs in the Birmingham, AL area. We need representation. Please help in answering a quick poll. 1. I dont think there are any Nursing Unions organized in Alabama. Correct me if I am wrong. If there are unions, where? 2. If you are an RN in the Birmingham, AL region would you join/support a nurses union. 3. Would you, as an RN, not be willing to join a Union for fear of employer retaliation? Any input is appreciated.

I agree, it is not wise to classify RNs as exempt. Nurses need to unify nationally some how, strike nationally. There would be NO hospital functional. I have heard MDs talking of unionizing if the new health care reform comes about. The Nursing State Board is basically a joke, there is no protection for the RNs. Since historically, nursing has been a WOMANS field of employment, little or no provisions have been put in place to protect us. We need stronger representation. Many of us are single parents and need health insurance for our kids so are fearful of losing our jobs if we speak out too much. Management could really care less, they're getting FREE labor. It is disgusting.

Thanks to all who have replied. I do appreciate the valuable info of other RNs. So fare the Labor Board has told us there is nothing we can do...that we can be classified as salary and therefore are not elegible for OT pay...The attorneys we have talked to also state the same...We are still mandated to stay over without compensation and take call without compensation and come back for emergencies without compensation...go figure! The Board of Nursing also has been notified by one of the RNs...We are still getting tossed around...We are keeping documentations of OT, OC, and CB...On occasion no lunches also are at issue...there are no hospital policies really explaining how we are to be paid on salary since it just started about 3 weeks ago. We lost overtime on the last pay check and were told one day before we recieved the check that we were no longer getting anything but 40/wk pay...They say RNS do fall under the exempt status now... to their convience of course.

Huhhhh.....the adminstration is IN on it too...we have been suddenly placed on "salary", we are suddenly referred to as "professionals"... get paid for 40 max.....even if we work 50hrs....still have to clock in and out, mandated to take call, do not get paid for call time or if you have to return to work...NO pay...sounds illegal to me, but we, RNs dont have any controll over what is dictated to us by our poor state nursing agencies nor the wage and hour labor board. Now RNs can be exempt and paid a flat salary and NO overtime...and mandated to work over as necessary without pay or "THEY", the ones who dont know how to do a nursing job, but make the RULES to their favor, say it is "abandoment of patient". RNs need some type of legal leverage...we are used and abused all to often.....So the question is, "What to do?" Any suggestions? trn