"Scabs"

[lee1]

Why do nurses take these assignments???? Especially in this day and age when most strikes are about benefit levels, staffing ratios, working conditions???

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

As well as "concerned" facilities would transfer out all patients. Thus staffing would be more than adequate.

At the point a union can force this alternative on a hospital, they will lose every strike they attempt.

WITHOUT patients being a thorn in the side of management during a strike, they can simply outwait strikers, even if it takes months to do so.

See, hospitals are primarily patronized due to location. THAT dynamic doesn't change as a result of a strike so hospitals would not lose signficant business share by simply waiting it out.

Since they DO have obligations to their communities, hospitals cannot shut down if they can at all avoid it. It's a catch-22 that is a disadvantage to hospitals and a decided advantage to unions during a strike.

As such, strikers benefit by having replacement workers first, they bleed the hospitals dry so that they must be forced to reconsider the true costs of continuing a strike, and second, by keeping their doors open, meaning that the negative public perceptions of quality care during a strike remains an ever-present concern.

You do NOT want to be a striking union member when a hospital closes its doors completely unless YOU have comparable economic resources as the hospital itself to 'wait it out'.

~faith,

Timothy.

[roxanneroxanne]

Hi!

I've never known nurses to strike simply for money. It has always been for better working conditions and better patient safety.

Just keep in mind if you go for the big strike bucks that if it wasn't safe to work there before the strike, imagine what it could be like when the work force is even more compromised.

If it is not safe to be a patient, it certainly isn't safe for your nursing license.

Support striking nurses- don't scab!

Roxanne

[kalbo3]

It all comes down to the mighty dollar. Sometimes money can out way ethics and morals.

[LadyNASDAQ]

[MarySunshine]

I find this confusing. I would think that it would help the striking nurses' cause to force the hospital to pay travelers high salaries. In that sense, the traveling nurses are remaining loyal to the cause, helping the patients, not to mention making good money.

This is a confusing topic to me.

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

I find this confusing. I would think that it would help the striking nurses' cause to force the hospital to pay travelers high salaries. In that sense, the traveling nurses are remaining loyal to the cause, helping the patients, not to mention making good money.

This is a confusing topic to me.

When emotions take over, logic goes out the window. That's just being human.

~faith,

Timothy.

[MarySunshine]

To be honest, I'm considering putting myself on my travel nursing companies' list of nurses willing to work during strikes. I would NEVER do something that I thought hurt the cause of nursing. I just honestly don't see how this hurts it. If someone can explain it to me, I'm more than willing to listen and be receptive.

[LadyNASDAQ]

I have a friend who lives in TX. He's a night shift ICU Nurse and does as many stikes as possible and fills in with travel and some local agency during the Holidays. He makes over 6 figs and is doing quite well. He says he could care less about any of the red tape because he claims these are the hospitals that HAVE to go on strike and he does feel that he is supporting the Nurses who walked off of the job. I am quite leery of agency nursing like that but still curious about it. US Nursing calls me all the time to work them but I always say NO because I'm not sure about personal safety.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

I really don't care for the rep of US Nursing.

I have met some strikebreak nurses, and was really not impressed with what I heard, the behavior, the skills/attitude etc. While I am sure that there are some wonderful nurses that work that division, I was just very put off.

I do not work with agencies that do that. I don't want my good work to benefit that sort of agency, nor do I want to receive my pay from that sort of organization, even if I did not earn it by strikebreaking.

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

I really don't care for the rep of US Nursing.

I have met some strikebreak nurses, and was really not impressed with what I heard, the behavior, the skills/attitude etc. While I am sure that there are some wonderful nurses that work that division, I was just very put off.

I do not work with agencies that do that. I don't want my good work to benefit that sort of agency, nor do I want to receive my pay from that sort of organization, even if I did not earn it by strikebreaking.

I just can't see it as strike breaking. It's strike enabling. It's the hospitals that are in a bind. They MUST keep as much of their doors open as possible; serving the community is their claim to fame. So they must pay the exorbitant fees; fees that would make a sane person reconsider what it would take to settle a strike.

In any case, without nurses willing to cross the line, the hospitals could claim that they have no choice but to completely close. AT THAT MOMENT, if a hospital actually were to close, then the strike is over and the hospital wins.

Why?

The hospital can wait out a closure longer than staff. They have millions to do so and no real loss for doing so. Their claim to fame is normally location and they will STILL be where they are when they open back up: no real loss of market share. What other business has that advantage during a strike?

No. Replacement workers are strike ENABLERS. Without the constant administrative concern for both the cost of replacement workers and the safety issues of not having a full complement of staff, a hospital could outwait any strike.

Replacement workers bring pressure to bear on management to settle.

~faith,

Timothy.

[MarySunshine]

Timothy,

You're making sense to me. Thanks for the viewpoint.