Strike nursing

[trulefty]

Just wanted to get some info on how some nurses only work strike positions. Are there enough out there to make a fairly routine salary? I currently work as a traveler and have thrown in a few strikes. Would like to do more, but my travel assignments have interfered and I like to eat. Any info would be greatly appreciated

[Carlyb]

Ok, what is the alternative to strike nurses? If the nurses that are hired to take care of the patients are on strike, who do you suggest take care of the patients ? Shouldnt patient care be the top priority? Or do you think patients should be left to care for themselves during the strike? Confused here.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Ok, what is the alternative to strike nurses? If the nurses that are hired to take care of the patients are on strike, who do you suggest take care of the patients ? Shouldnt patient care be the top priority? Or do you think patients should be left to care for themselves during the strike? Confused here.

The first and best alternative is for the hospital to deal rationally with the nurses in bargaining so the strike never needs to happen. Without nurses willing to cross picket lines and the agencies that provide them, management might have to be reasonable. In all the recent strikes here the issue has been about management with very healthy bottom lines demanding cuts in workers' benefits - not workers making unreasonable demands.

In the days before these scab agencies existed, hospitals would cancel elective procedures for several days before the strike, trnsfer patients who could be transferred and care for the remainder with managers and other non-union nursing staff. Also, the union in California - and likely other nurse unions too - always lets management know that if they have a patient they can't care for with the staff on hand they only have to ask and the union will send in a nurse to provide the needed care.

[Music in My Heart]

"lost their effectiveness"? Not my union. We've not only won major legal protections for nurses, but the best pay and benefits in the world.

Interesting side bar: Today I was doing my insanely long commute home and heard an ad from Anthem (boo, hiss...) for their advice nurse line and it included the tag along the lines of "paying union comparable wages" -- they may be but only for so long as they have strong unions to oppose them... if the Reeps keep getting their union-busting ways (I personally boycott all things Wisconsin), watch compensation and working conditions spiral...

[kcmylorn]

trulefty-I think if you supported your nursing colleages- in celebrating their gains for their contract and strength in solidarity., You wouldn't even be asking your original question, nor would you be bouncing around the country HOPING for your next paycheck and figuring out how to weather the dry spells of unemployement. If nursing stood together and KEPT their nose in other nurses job politics; there wouldn't be uphill battles trying to hold on to salaries, benefits, retirements, safety standards of practice and staffing regulations. There might even be a narrower bridge in salary range from state to state, in stead of nurses in the south making $15-20/ $30,000- $40,000/yr and Calif @$100,000/yr. With the number of nurses in this country- if we all stood with each other instead of some against - corporate healthcare would not have gained it's abusive power. This upper hand is dangerous to nursing practice- as we have all come to see with this strike in Sutter. Corporate healthcare IS controlling our practice through staffing numbers and disciplinary actions. This upper handed bullying cost a patient their life because an multimillion dollar BOOB/Ass++++ with no nursing knowledge, no Nursing or medical license gave the OK to hire a new inexperienced nurse( I'm sure this was not the only one on this assignment) from a nursing agency that he didn't check out for creditiblity,and didn't have a clue how to go about checking competency or even what the competencies were or should be - just "get me "x" # of nurses fast, the cheaper the better" and as a result, his poor judgement, poor leadership, lack of nursing knowledge and expertise caused a sentinel event that he will worm his way out of. He too is in way over his head. These MBA's( if he is even that) DO NOT belong in healthcare. This insident is a perfect example.

If nurses stood together there would be no exploitation of a licensed inexperienced nurse(s) Shows all right there how corporate healthcare devalues the license of a nurse. This exploitation has happened more than with this strike. Look at all the complaints and posts here on this site of new grads and older nurses being terminated/fired for going to lunch, not reporting off, clocking out issues, not documenting in 300 places, and any other 'crack head charges' these ding-a-lings can think of. There wouldn't be so much job dissatisfaction. The patient/nurse ratios wouldn't be stretched to the limit. Nursing management would be held accountable for thier hiding in their office while these practice and staffing issues were occuring. Nurses wouldn't be handed early retirement packages at the ripe old age of 50(yes, I said 50 not 65). Corporate healthcare is ignoring the federal Labor laws (not just collective bargaining agreements but Federal Government Labor Laws). They are making this country unrecognizable, setting it back decades for their own personal greed and arrogance- they want to play God. Couldn't make it in med schoolor nursing so they are going to take the patient care decision making power away from those of us who did.

Nursing would be treated like licensed professionals instead of "a dime a dozen" and we may even be able to get rid of the multi million dollar CEO and his board of mistrustee and board of dicktaters that are sucking the healthcare system's funds dry. Hospitals might not have to close due to lack of funds. One employee might not be collecting millions in a salary each year and that money could be put back into the healthcare sysytem. There may even be access to care when people have the begininning stages of illness instead of waiting for disease to progress to 'can't ignore' level. Your looking for strike work keeps feeding a very diseased greedy machine at a lot of peoples expense.

The answer to this- Maybe MR CEO should learn how to get along with his co-workers(his nurses) and be a team player.

No, Mr Fry, I don't live in California- I live on the opposite coast. We have your kind over here too - so fire me!!!!!!!!!!:D:D I work for the federal government- Mr Obama is my boss.:lol2::lol2:

[smoke over fire]

No. And for good reasons. Many many options have been exhausted to get to a strike. The nurses at these hospitals have struggled with their administration to ensure safe ratios and a voice in patient care. To maintain a professional environment to work that is based on evidence not just monetary factors.

Those nurses had to tell their families they would not go to work and sacrificed that day's pay because they stood up for their profession. It is a difficult position and not easily made.

In an ideal world all nurses would empathize with the solemn occasion of a strike.

[Goobstress]

It has been pretty consistent here in California for the strikes so I currently halted my travel assignments and currently only schedule myself for registry or master booking work that way I'm available to do them. They have been consistently striking every month so work is available.

[Mindful, RN]

... your nose is growing

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

I work in a union LTC state facility. The CNAs and LPNs are in a union. Our CNAs start out at 14.50 and we LPNs start out at 22.50. We have a pension and the best benefits I've ever seen. In a 700+ bed facility, I've never once seen a ward run short nurses or aides. Not for a single shift. Ever. Paid holidays include veterans day, election day thanksgiving AND the day after, new years eve AND new years day, MLK day, presidents day plus more. If you work a holiday you get time and a half AND you can comp 12 hrs PTO into your bank. You better believe I'll strike and fight tooth and nail to defend every benefit I have! SHAME on any scabs who would try to cross a picket line. If we ever go on strike here, any aide or nurse who betrays us better watch their back.... They will reap what they sow.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

And we just recently won a major victory here, too! The state tried to lay off all of our state CNAs at our home and replace them with "contract" aides who would make 8.50 an hour and no benefits!! Aides who have been like family to our residents for 20 years or more!! Most of these aides are at the top of the pay scale and are making 20.00 an hour. It's so rare to see a hardworking CNA make a living wage! Well, when management did it and sent all our aides home, guess what? The state court in Lansing decreed that the agency aides were providing substandard care (they were) and forbid us to use them. We were literally left with no CNAs! Management's emergency plan was to use us LPNs as aides and the RNs (who are NOT in the union) would pass meds. Every last LPN stood by our CNA brothers and we refused to do a single CNA assignment per our union contract. This led to a strange and delicious turn of events where the RNS acted as CNAs while we LPNs were "the nurse". Two weeks later every last state CNA was brought back at their old wage! And now the state is looking at cutting the RN manager staff as the only place they can make layoffs and still have the place be operational.

[lindarn]

Take this as a clue, that the nurses, LPN and RN, need to unionize ASAP!

It is not enough for the only CNAs to be unionized.

Scratch the idea that it is somehow not professional to unionize. Teachers have been unionzed for years. They unionized because they wanted to protect their academic freedom to teach.

Well folks, no one ever died because they could not do long division, or diagram a sentence. But how many patients have died and/or, had bad outcomes from deliberate short staffing in hospitals and nursing homes? The list is too long.

Call NNOC immediateyly. Don't even give it a second thought. The job that you save may be your own!

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

[expipe]

Strike nurses make good money, no doubt about it. When nurses strike it is for good reasons, if your union is crappy then your result is crappy. Most times it is beneficial. I wish nurses who are AGAINST striking for pay, safe working conditions, and benefits they deserve would get down off the cross and ask themselves why hospitals who can well afford to pay them better are willing to spend so much dough on strike nurses? 40 dollars an hour and half and double time for overtime. Get a grip. They have the money to spend and other hospitals help them out, just like you have a union to back you financially if your strike lingers. I know nurses who work strikes and their money is good, but I was a nurse who stood with 864 others to unionize our hospital in 1983. The attitude of our hospital before winning our strike of 3 mo was, If you dont like it here you can leave. Afterwards was a whole new story. I stayed there 15 years. That union is still in place. It was communication workers of america, we went with them because they had big bucks and could support our fight and it worked. And the patients did not suffer and die, just so all you mother teresas and bleeding hearts dont have sleepless nights. Just because you provide a vital service does not mean you should not be compensated. Healthcare is a business, and if business was not good they would not be in it. Take off the rose colored glasses. Nursing fails one of the 10 criteria to be legitimately called a profession, and that is to be licensed and work independently. We cant hang out our shingle, we cant diagnose or endorse and sell our products like doctors do. So we are constantly tethered to other entities that enable us to practice and therefore our livlihoods are always controlled by others who want to use us but do not appreciate our value. In unity there is power, that is why I support unions. Since 1999 I have worked in southern states, and the main reason nurses dont want to unionize or strike is not out of concern for patients, but fear, fear of losing their jobs and fear of confrontation. So please stop using concern for the pts as an excuse for not standing up for yourself, because that dog just dont hunt.

[lindarn]

Nursing, is unfortunately, controlled by a group of, "martyr marys", who have a pathological need to be needed, and allow themselves, and others, to be taken advantage of and walked all over.

You are NOT a good nurse, if you allow your patients to do without necesary nursing care because you have too many patients to be responsible for.

You are NOT a good nurses if you cannot control your profession, because of weakness, and discord within the ranks (that is encouraged by hospital administrators).

You are NOT a good nurse if you allow members of your profession, to continously leave jobs due to unsafe staffing and working conditions, and do not take a stand to change the status quo.

You do not have the strength of character to stand up for your profession, and do what is right and for everyone. If you do not beleive that members should be rewarded for their education and expertise, and stand up for the nursing care your patients deserve, please leave and join a convent or do missionary work. You are not doing anyone a favor by remaining in the profession.

Most of us would like to be rewarded for our education, and expertise, like other health care professionals. Other health care professionals work to increase the status of the profession. They support the increasing the educational level of the profession, limiting the numbers entering, instead of maintaining the status quo, of low educational levels, and flooding the profession with newbies.

Other health care professions strive to control their profession, and hold onto their professional practice. They do not allow their professional practice to be sold to the highest bidder.

That is why nursing is seen in such a poor light, and we are not appreciated. Spare me the, "but nursing has been voted the most trusted profession for a hundred years in a row!". We are voted that, because we allow ourselves to be doomats. If we demanded staffing ratios, better pay and benefits, control of our profession, the results of the vote would be vastly different.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW