36 reasons why Americans need to remember the past

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Specializes in Critical-care RN.

Did you know that labor unions fought for these rights...

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?
  1. Weekends without work
  2. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
  3. Paid vacation
  4. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
  5. Sick leave
  6. Social Security
  7. Minimum wage
  8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII - prohibits employer discrimination
  9. 8-hour work day
  10. Overtime pay
  11. Child labor laws
  12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
  13. 40-hour work week
  14. Workers' compensation (workers' comp)
  15. Unemployment insurance
  16. Pensions
  17. Workplace safety standards and regulations
  18. Employer health care insurance
  19. Collective bargaining rights for employees
  20. Wrongful termination laws
  21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
  22. Whistleblower protection laws
  23. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) - prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
  24. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
  25. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
  26. Sexual harassment laws
  27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
  28. Holiday pay
  29. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
  30. Privacy rights
  31. Pregnancy and parental leave
  32. Military leave
  33. The right to strike
  34. Public education for children
  35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
  36. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

http://www.unionplus.org/about/labor-unions/36-reasons-thank-union

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Long live the unions! :)

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So why do nurses resist the idea of unions? We are 'professionals' without a voice. I liked working in a union house, felt empowered.

There should be more unionizing - when there are multiple facilities in one area, and only one is unionized, the others nearly all fall in line or try to 'outdo' the union shop. Staffing ratios and mandatory overtime are the two biggest issues that the unions tackle.

Unions can be a wonderful thing!

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Nurses rejecting unions, as being,"unprofessional", and not in our best interestes, is up there with the biggest snow job in history.

NO profession, would benefit more from en masse unionizing, than nursing. It absolutely boggles the mind, that the ONLY thing that will improve the nursing profession is unionizing.

Wake up folks. IT is your legal right to unionize, inspite of that your employer tells you. They cannot forbid you to unionize, but they will make it as difficult at YOU let them.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

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Well, gee. I have never enjoyed any of the following:

  1. Weekends without work
  2. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks (What's a lunch break let alone a bathroom break???)
  3. Paid vacation
  4. Sick leave (with no pay)
  5. Minimum wage
  6. 8-hour work day
  7. 40-hour work week
  8. Pensions (A thing of the past)
  9. Workplace safety standards and regulations (broken all the time)
  10. Employer health care insurance (I WISH! I have to purchase my own, 100%)
  11. Collective bargaining rights for employees
  12. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) (HA! The law exists, but as an over 50 person, I can tell you age discrimination happens all the time)
  13. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises) (Only if we bug for it enough. No thanks to unions)
  14. Privacy rights
  15. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance (Nope. None of these either)
  16. Pregnancy and parental leave (mmm... maybe, but only if unpaid)
  17. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work (Please pick me up off the floor - I'm laughing and crying)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Nurses rejecting unions, as being,"unprofessional", and not in our best interestes, is up there with the biggest snow job in history.

NO profession, would benefit more from en masse unionizing, than nursing. It absolutely boggles the mind, that the ONLY thing that will improve the nursing profession is unionizing.

Wake up folks. IT is your legal right to unionize, inspite of that your employer tells you. They cannot forbid you to unionize, but they will make it as difficult at YOU let them.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

Agree!

Nurses have been too busy worrying about what OTHER people think of them rather than looking after themselves.

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