I took me mom out for her birthday to a fairly nice resturant for lunch. Sitting behind us were a fairly well dressed man and woman about my age. I overheard a conversation that I didn't expect to hear in a public place. The man said to the woman, "People have to get used to the idea that healthcare is a business. One of the techniques that businesses use to cut cost is to jetison long time workers with high salaries. Some people think that is inhuman but it is a perfectly acceptable business practice, the business of business is to make money." She said "surely you don't mean my facility?" He said, "yes I mean your facility!" She protested that they had high turnover as it was. He said "yes that is a good thing about nursing homes and hospitals, they experience a fairly rapid turnover and it keeps wages down. However, there is always the odd employee that stays on for years and they are the ones you have to target." At that point I made a gagging noise and said to my mom, "come on mom, I have lost my appetite". Now this happened last Thursday and I didn't post it until today because I have been wondering if people would believe me. First of all, I know these conversation take place but I assumed they took place behind closed doors. Second of all, what is the chance of a person as radical as I am overhearing something like this, I could hardly believe it myself. A 100 nasty remarks came into my mind but I said nothing because it would have made a seen and they would have probably called the cops. I swear I heard this conversation and I tried to repeat it here word for word, they did not name any names.
I work at a nonprofit, faith based facility that is also unionized. There are many veteran nurses, with 10, 20, 30 years at this facility. One of the CNs on our unit has been with this facility for 30 years. Nurses actually retire from this place.
Still, I am not at all surprised by the OP. I'm sure that were it not for a strong union presence, well....
An experienced, dedicated worker w/a good work ethic is "let go" for some bogus reason- we all know it's b/c she was at the top of the pay scale.
This method is called "Rank and Yank", which was the brainchild of Ken Lay (of Enron fame). You are set up for failure and then let go for "poor performance".
This actually happened to my sister, who was in her early 50's and had worked for the same company for 19 years. When her attorney supoenaed her personnel file, he was told that there was "nothing in it".
She settled out of court for unlawful termination and age discrimination.
My facility is unionized and we still see it going on here. Mostly, it's affecting middle management. For awhile it seemed like every day we would come in and hear about another manager resigning or being escorted out. Those of us on the floor that are at the top of the pay scale are also feeling the pressure. That's one reason I stay on nights, to avoid the political machinations that go on during daylight hours. I'm also going back to school to complete my BSN so I can become more marketable. I love my job and would like to retire from there, but I feel I have to be prepared.
Interestingly, my husband lost his job several years ago when his company decided to close shop here and move it to China. Something like 1500 workers were laid off. He had been there 16 years. Turns out the China deal fell through but the company has several operations down south where they pay less wage and no union.
Happened to me after 10 yrs. I lost 170 hrs of pto because of "complaints" from other nurses from other floors. Not to mention noone liked to work that floor cause it was so busy and only 1 charge nurse for 28 pts.....So glad I am outa there...
Suesquatch: totally off topic, but I noticed your "Barack" is Swahili for "That One" signature line and had to add that "Barak" is a Hebrew name meaning 'lightning'. :) Tidbits of useless info are my life, LOL....
It's probably also Arabic for the same thing - same roots in the languages.
:)
The sig is a reference to the Al SMith dinner joke Barack made in reference to McCain calling him "that one."
I'm learning this the hard way. The psychiatric dept. I work in is threatening a RIF, encouraging older nurses to retire, nurses to take other positions if they were thinking about it and then you have me, only a year and a half there so my salary is not what the older nurses are making. Plus, with the threat of a RIF, I know that I will never see a benefitted position come up in this dept. as my position is only part time right now and I hung on because they promised it would turn in to full time. *sigh
I think that moving on is best for me even though I love working in psych. It sure opened my eyes that it all comes down to profits, period.
I strongly believe this is happening on my unit. But because we're unionized, the administration has had to resort to making working conditions so unpleasant that the senior staff nurses are quitting. What's really scary is that we're a quaternary care PICU and the only one of our caliber for thousands of miles. It makes me crazy thinking about how they're endangering children's lives and futures and potentially destroying families. But at the same time, I'm losing hope that things can be repaired enough to make me want to stay there. That makes me sad. And a little ashamed.
This is what they are doing on my unit, making it very unpleasant to work there and unsafe for both staff and patients.
Did your mom eventually end up with a better position at a better place? I have talked to so many people who felt very badly about getting shafted like that at the time. However, in the long run they were happier and did better than the people that did not get let go. In other words the conditions were so bad after the downsizing that the people who were left go turned out to be the lucky ones.
Actually she found a position at a small SNF and loved the patients and the work that she did there. We did get a labor attorney and he said we had a strong case but she decided not to go for it...I would have, but I am of a different temperment than she is.
She is 78 and if she could still work...she would!!
Virgo_RN, BSN, RN
3,543 Posts
I work at a nonprofit, faith based facility that is also unionized. There are many veteran nurses, with 10, 20, 30 years at this facility. One of the CNs on our unit has been with this facility for 30 years. Nurses actually retire from this place.
Still, I am not at all surprised by the OP. I'm sure that were it not for a strong union presence, well....