OC_An Khe

Okay, you're ex military, so you know what being a short timer is, you'll get through the month because you can. That said, not all nursing positions are that toxic, sorry you got one of the poor ones,but I wish you luck going forward.

Half century in healthcare, 40 as an RN, retired 1 year ago. You definitely need a plan for what you want to do in retirement. Of course a lot depends on your health and time should be spent on maintaining your health. Nursing is a people and helping oriented profession and I find I need things to do in retirement that continue to fulfill those psychological needs. LLAP

Its a typical technique to judge the commitment of those that signed cards for the election. The union is fronting all the costs for the organizing drive and just making sure there is a return on their investment. Herring_RN has it correct.

Unions like corporations aren't inherently good or evil. It depends on how they are run both locally and nationally. That said after working with patients since 1968 i much prefer working in a unionized facility.The contract gives you protection and a legal basis when you speak up about Nursing issues and patient safety that are non existent in a non unionized facility.

Long acting narcotics in these patients is very useful. Particularly if they are chronic pain patients and routinely take opiates daily on a routine basis, you need to "catch them up" to their daily opiate level before you can get effective pain relief post op.

Remember on this Labor Day weekend all the work and sacrifice union members have done in the past. Collective action works in obtaining worthwhile goals. Support our union Brothers and Sisters in their collective actions. Without Labor, Capital can not be formed. Without capital, capitalism can not exist and we all suffer as a result.

Unions are can be either effective or ineffective depending on many factors. However unions do give you the legal ability to influence the priorities the employer sets in their decision making with regards to certain mandated subjects of bargaining. The membership must be willing to takes the steps necessary to assure the employer listens.

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, what about travel nursing. Our facility has used them in the past and a lot of the RNs were in your age bracket.

When will this ever end.....? The body needs to catch up with her soul.

Sometimes justice is slow but it does work when you are in the right.

Tell them the truth, I worked at a Union Hospital and was not a member, therefor had no involvement.. Curious if it is even legal to discriminate employment because of past union involvement. Any body know?

The type of scheduling used is dependent on the resources, size and collective bargaining agreements, in a given hospital. What works for one institution may not work for another. Scheduling should take into account the needs of the institution and the needs (quality of life) of the individuals RNs. There needs to be a balance to have a truly effective organization. Scheduling done to satisfy the "bean counters" is actually more expensive in the long run. I still find it appalling that RNs are still involuntarily called off/cancelled for low census in certain areas of the country. You never know what will come in through the door or a patient goes bad requiring additional staff. What other profession would accept losing 20% or more of their weekly income on chance.. Do firemen only get paid while fighting fires?

When minimum wage levels are increased, that usually recalibrate all wages upward. So by assisting in the dialogue for minimum wage increases, the Union is also indirectly working to raise the wages of those workers it represents. Additionally as the minimum wage increases there is more money circulating in the economy and therefore the demands for more goods and services increases which also benefits union members.

Was a root cause analysis done? Errors of this magnitude usually are system errors not personnel errors. Also punishing individuals before this type of analysis is done just leads to under reporting of errors and less safe environment for all.

Everyones compensation has been shrinking for decades. Not only in direct wages/salaries but also your indirect compensation with regard to pensions healthcare costs etc. Yes I would take stagnant.