AnneDNP

Isn't a contract a partnership with the employer? Both sides have to agree to the terms of the contract. I am a proud SEIU member and my chapter represents 32 different professions. We have learned together that we share many issues and also that the strength of our membership will help resolve issues that are specific to a very small group of our members. We have build a partnership with our employer without compromising our rights. I am a firm believer that we accomplish more by talking to each other then by being intransigeant at all costs. You say that the labor movement is bigger than just one facility or one job, I agree... that is exactly why as union members we need to work together to fight big conglomerates. Raiding each other is not helping the big picture. After reading many posts, I still fail to understand why CNA, if they were so concerns about the welfare of the nurses, did not get a few cards signed to allow CNA to be on the ballot...that would have been the democratic thing to do!

Who do you think is already paying for it now? If kids, or adults for that matter, get sick now and need acute care, tax payers are already paying for it. The difference with providing health insurance is that preventive care, such as regular check-ups, vaccinations and such will be covered. It will be much less expensive for all of us to provide early access to healthcare than having people unable to access healthcare providers until they are so sick that they have to come through emergency rooms.

Welcome to Iowa...where nurses' salary averages are last in the nation. Iowa has historically been a state which "export" nurses. Most hospitals in Iowa don't seem to think that there is a nurses' shortage out there; and they definitely don't care to prepare for it! Very few hospitals have unions, unlike our neighbors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where hospitals have to compete with higher salaries to recruit and retain nurses. In Iowa, the race is to the bottom of how low salaries can be and still compete in the local market.

The other great benefit University of Iowa nurses have is that they have the protection of a union contract. If you want more information regarding pay and benefits you can read the SEIU contract by clicking on the following link. http://www.seiu199.org/docUploads/SEIU%2005%2D07%20final%20clean%2Epdf Nurses at UIHC also have an established Nurse Staffing Advisory Committee which is made of an equal number of staff nurses and nursing managers. Staffing isssues, charge nurse role, orientation are among topics the comittee has addressed in the past. Purple Rose, I hope that you get the job!

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics just started to use the EMAR system. It is being introduced a few units at a time. Should be running everywhere sometimes next year.

Panhandler... we nurses have to take it upon ourselves to create change. Too many of us are not as outspoken as TNNURSE. Having a union at her hospital would have provided her with a process to fight her termination. If we wait for others to fix our problems...we won't have any nurses to take care of us when we get old and sick! :rotfl:

I would enccourage you to do an interesting quick check. Look at the nurses' salary in those supposedly wonderful states which have right to work laws. An example is Iowa; unionization of nurses in Iowa is very low, we also rate 52th in the nation in nurses' wages. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would be selfish enough to think that on their own they can make a difference and not think that the working conditions of nurses in California have much to do with the hard work of Union nurses.

http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/relations/Seiu/seiu.html This link will get you to the labor contract which covers the nurses at the University of Iowa hospitals. The wages tables are at the end of the document. Nurses will recieve about a 4.5% increase on July first, 2005. The tables are based on years of experience. Hope to see you there soon!

Very simply put, if you have a good employer who pays you a fair wage and benefits and treats you well as a partner in the healthcare business you don't need a union. If you don't have a good employer, then you may want to look at a union, but make certain the union doesn't screw you too. Your good employer is paying a fair wage because they have to compete with Union wages. Here in Iowa, where very few nurses have a union, the wages' race is to the bottom, hospitals figure what is the least they pay their nurses without loosing too many... and Iowa nurses have the lowest wages in the nation. :angryfire

My understanding is that HPPD only include direct patient care givers. Managers and secretary should not count. They should be part of the "administrative" cost. Do others count non-direct care givers?

:) Very well said CrunchRN

Could anyone help me find information regarding Lane Benchmarking? I hear it a lot in regards to HPPD and productivity of nurses, but have not been able to find anything on the web about it. Thanks