Raises

Some may be dissatisfied with their union, but I think ours does a pretty good job. I think there is some data that shows the unions where I work help actually bring the pay UP for nurses in our tri-state area.

ADN or diploma nurses at our facility start around $31 and BSNs start at almost $33.

Or you could be like this guy with insane work commute:

This nurse commutes 2,6

I'm in a Union and work right next door to our giant provider in Pittsburgh. I have better benefits and make much more money than the folks there plus firing or disciplining me is not a simple matter at all

Some may be dissatisfied with their union, but I think ours does a pretty good job. I think there is some data that shows the unions where I work help actually bring the pay UP for nurses in our tri-state area.

ADN or diploma nurses at our facility start around $31 and BSNs start at almost $33.

Or you could be like this guy with insane work commute:

This nurse commutes 2,6 miles to work in Oakland. Is he nuts? - SFGate

Meanwhile he's passing California and Pennsylvania state taxes. Yikes.

WOW what a topical article for me personally. I must say I'm thinking about doing the exact same thing but only for three years. I work for the VA and we get locality pay based on where we work. Our pensions are calculated on our highest earning three years. This being the case for my last three years of work I'm looking at our highest paying facilities as it could make a huge impact on my pension and hopefully that benefit will last for many years

Is this because you are at the top of the pay scale?

There are some nurses at my job who haven't had a raise in over a decade due to being at the top. Every year that passes by, their earning power becomes less and less. It is really tragic.

I guess I shouldn't be too upset. In the two years I've been here, my pay has increase by $1.38/hr. But insurance keeps increasing!

Nope. Definitely not at the top of the pay scale. My hospital no longer gives annual raises. As the cost of living goes up, and my pay stays the same, I figure pretty soon I'll be making minimum wage.

New nurses at my facility are making about $5 more than several of the senior nurses- plus a $10,000 sign on bonus. They raised the starting pay but didn't give everyone else a raise to match. It's no wonder experienced staff are leaving in droves.

Same thing happened where I work. After several experienced nurses said goodbye, some in not such nice terms, the owners upped wages to above the new hire rate. Not much above, so a few other nurses still said goodbye.

I was the only nurse that went to my former DON and asked for a raise. He initially gave me the company budget song and dance and said no. I pointed out to him that since he was leaving anyway, what did he have to lose? It worked, and he pushed through a big raise for me right before he quit so I am probably the only nurse making enough more than the new hires to feel ok about my wage.

I am however hoping for a decent raise again this year as my insurance went up, the premiums almost doubled this year. So, there goes my raise. I am bringing home not much more than before than before I got a raise.

I have heard other nurses complain that they actually make less after the big, across the board raise everybody got to bring wages in line with new hire wages. Problem is, when the owners increased the hourly wage they also took away all bonuses, shift differentials, charge pay and overtime other than what's legally required. For a charge nurse working the night shift that amounted to a $4.50/hr cut not including any extra money earned by bonuses and overtime paid for picking up extra shifts. No wonder nobody jumps at the opportunity to pick up shifts anymore.

So I just got my raise. I knew what it was going to be. It ended up being a hair under 3% ... 71 cents more per hour.

I know I should be grateful, but this hospital that I work at pays so low. New grads at other hospitals are making more than nurses with two years of experience at my facility. I am tempted to jump ship but would most likely have to go back to nights and possibly working every other weekend versus every third.

How about you? Have you gotten a raise? Does mine suck as much as I think it does? For what it's worth, health insurance only increased by a buck more.

If you need more income, why don't you get a PRN job in addition to your full time job? Find you a PRN job , thats not too stressful, flexible with picking up hours and pays decent.