Strike or time to grow up!

[kennedyj]

I hear so much talk about striking that it scares me to think that there are so many people who would abandon their patients so easily. Maybe in some cases where safety is an issue I could consider striking (after all other methods have failed). I feel that nurses need to stand together more politically but not by striking. There is currently too much fighting between nurses at this point (adn,BSN, MSN, CNA etc.)

When people strike I hear them talk bad about agency workers (scabs). Does this mean you would like to see no one show up??

Does this mean you would like to see your patients suffer??

If so maybe it is time for you to leave nursing....

Jared

[-jt]

I live in the southeastern US and we will never have unions down here,>>

Really???? I suggest you get out a little more. Lots of nurses in Florida (Southeastern USA) have been unionized for a long time & more are unionizing everyday. For instance, Shands and the VA in Tampa are represented by the UAN. SEIU represents nurses in Lakeland. Nurses are unionized in NC & Tennessee too. There are lots of unionized nurses in the Southeastern US. So never say never - cause they're already there.

[Mijourney]

Hi beani. I respect the fact that you like many others of us in nursing are underpaid and know that you deserve more. I also respect the fact that you may not ever want to join a union. But, as a fellow southerner, I think we should do more to try to elevate our profession in this region rather than go to other parts of the country asking them to "show me the money."

What have you done to try to improve conditions and pay in your facility? Depending on the situation, it seems hypocritical to go help someone else out when your own front and backyard is in a mess.

I may change my opinion in the future, but right now, I feel that scabbing is almost like stabbing someone in the back with his/her own knife. I don't get a good feeling at all from patients not getting the care they deserve, but I get a worse feeling when I feel that a possible speedy resolution to staff shortages in a particular area are preempted by other similarly trained "professionals" who are using the guise of attending to "abandoned" patients for more money.

[beaniweeniRN]

I can appreciate everyones rather vocal opinions on the srtike subject. I feel very srongly about my profession also. It's not that I wouldn't join a union, but I have known a lot of people who attempted to speak out about organizing and were then terminated for some "unknown" reason. I work for Healthsouth; maybe you have heard of them? But they don't give a rat's a** about a. what the patient needs and b. what their nurses do to make their patient's stay a better experience. I will take advantage of the strikes and though I understand and appreciate the fact that you hope I don't show up,know this. What y'all do up there has absolutely NO affect on how my company feels about me or the patients they squeeze money from. As far as there being "active" unions in the south, you'll never hear of them striking because down here we are all expendable. And it would be great if all the older, more experienced nurses left, because then they could some new grad for half of what we make. They don't care if the person knows what they're doing or not. We are all just bodies filling a hole. I have a family, a Husband who doesn't have long to live with NO life insurance and 2 children who'll need to be put through college. So for me, I'll work as much as I can anywhere to take care of my family's needs. I think we should all stop bad mouthing one another and realize that WE are what makes healthcare and quit griping with one another.

We will all be patients one day, and let's just hope we have one who knows what the hell he/she is doing because the nurse is all that patient has going for them. Enough said:p