Top 10 Reasons Against Unions

[PICUPNP]

Top ten reasons why we don't want a union

10. the union doesn't write my paycheck.

9. unions would rather cause problems than work together.

8. union scale means the best workers are carrying the worst.

7. the people who want a union really need one.

6. too corrupt.

5. too political, too liberal and too partisan.

4. unions are only about power and money for the ones who run the union.

3. unions are negative about everything but how great they are.

2. I like to work steady.

1. I've got too much self respect.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

I agree, it's not always about money, sometimes it's patient care, sometimes better conditions, hours, or ratios. Nurses ( RNs and LPNs) need to start thinking about all aspects of our practice if we wish to be viewed as professionals by TPTB and the public at large. Many CNAs in my area (not at the ltc where I work, but at other ltcs in the area, as well as home health CNAs) are unionized. Facilities and agencies know better than to say boo to them, and they have the SEIU (?) which I've heard many say is a joke, but at least keeps unscrupulous employers in line

[FerRN]

You are the reason why RNs are underpaid. Unions have allowed me to get paid 900000/year after 12 years of exp. In NYC. hospitals in NYC that are not unionized pay their RNs far less. Unions demand safe staffing and safe nurse-patient ratio. I am a NYSNA member. When I retire I will get at least 3K plus a month on top of my 410K. I have an amazing insurance no co/pay. Only $100/month for family health insurance. Your hospital administration couldn't care less about RNs. Unions demand that RNs take their lunch or get paid when they do not. RNs are professionals. Enough of the abuse.[/quote']

Your union does all of that... mine does not, so speak for yourself. I am pretty sure that 90k a year in NYC is not that great of a salary, at least it wouldnt be for me as a single person. Just like 56k isnt for me in DC. I can do a lot better financially in Florida without the help of a union even with the lower rate of pay because the cost of living is so cheap. Pay me 120k in NYC or 75k in DC, then I might be impressed with what a union can do.

As far as working standards, I have taken 6 pts on a tele/step down with no pct. Now that I am procedural, it is not uncommon for me to take a lunch at 1600. So do not even begin to tell me I am the problem with low RN compensation, when the NNU has done ZERO for me except take my money.

[anonymurse]

It's real simple. A hospital system has a permanent legal staff that can work nurses over one at a time. Nurses generally don't make enough to afford even one lawyer. But unions have legal teams to defend individual nurses. Now that's worth it right there for me, the respect that comes with having equal legal firepower. Equality, what's it worth to you?

If you're a VA nurse, you belong to either of 2 unions depending on whether you're a LPN or RN. There's a no-strike clause in the contract, which I entirely support. When you hire on, you're automatically a member--and you don't have to pay dues unless you feel like it. Musicians call it 'playing for the tip jar.' They have an incentive to do their best by you.

And if you live in a 'right to get fired' state, the VA is even more attractive because the Federal government carries its unions wherever it goes, so it's a tiny island of mutual respect in a sea of arrogant 'see ya later, sucka' attitudes. I can't speak for nurses in other unions elsewhere. I have no idea how they're making out. All I know is I'm super happy.

If I'm called in and I have even the vaguest suspicion the meeting may result in disciplinary action, I'm entitled to have a union rep there, and the union's contract with the VA takes precedence over regulations. Haven't you ever felt uneasy when being called in? I'll never have that feeling again.

Yeah, considering my personal experiences, I prefer to be a respected equal rather than a powerless peon, and I'm never going back.

[HazelLPN, LPN]

My coworkers in California finally convinced administration to can the Nurse Manager of the ICU that we worked in. On the day she came in to clean out her office, they all came in on their day off, got chairs from the visitor waiting room, and sat in the hallway across from her office, as she collected her belongings.

They just sat there and grinned at her as she worked. They knew that they had won. Working for a collective goal can work. I suggest that you guys do the same. And take pictures! Just don't give up! Stay strong!

JMHO and my NY $0.02

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN(ret)

Somewhere in the PACNW

I had a similar situation with a nurse manager who was so awful she was border line abusive to her staff. She would staff the unit short on purpose to save money and made a policy stating that no patient can be on 1:1 care. She would terminate contingent employees who had not worked their two shifts a month or who missed staff meetings without warning. She would mock nurses in meetings saying "I'm tired of all of you whining about unsafe care! Does unsafe care mean someone doesn't get a bath one night?" (never mind the whole head to toe assessment during the bath...)

Without the union, her reign of terror would have continued. Patient care suffered under her. Ever taken four feeder growers at once? Its like a revolving door. Or having a really sick kid paired with a "stable" vent? The stable one can go south at any minute and 90% of your time is spent keeping the unstable one alive and you worry the entire shift how you will manage.

Morale plummeted and 25% of the staff transferred to another unit or left the hospital. Our unit clerk made a folk art paper mache falcon that was placed on the clerk's computer if she was in, it was put away when she went home. When she would leave for the day, he would get on the intercom and say "the falcon has flown". She had a few spy nurses who were in her corner, but in the end, even they couldn't take it.

This is the kind of corporate nurse should remind us that nurses need a voice to advocate for their patients. After she was fired (she cleaned out her office secretly in the night) there was a note posted at the nurses station that if "(name) was seen on the unit, call security immediately".

I wouldn't ever work without a union. I trained too hard, worked too hard and have seen too much to give up a voice and ownership in what I do. I'm not going to just trust blindly that administration has the best interest of the patients or the workers in mind.

Best to you,

Mrs H.

[Rodman]

Decide whether you want to be a professional or a blue collar worker. That's the choice

[lindarn]

Explain how, "professional", it is, too work chronically, understaffed (with YOUR license on the line), underpaid, no protection from abusive management, administrators, NO control over your profession, and professional practice, the list goes on.

I tire of the excuse of unionizing as being "unprofessional". Blue collar workers frequently out earn us, and have the security of knowing that there is a union in your corner, and have your back. And have far better benefits.

Even management and administrators, have contracts that outline their wages, benefits, job description, etc. Explain to me why the nursing staff, who is the one responsible for patient outcomes, safety, have NO protection for THEIR professional practice. Who is increasingly having to supervise minimally educated, unlicensed personnel, who are taking over more of our professional practice so these same administrators, can receive six figure salaries, and have more generous benefits.

I could be mistaken, but NO patient is admitted to a hospital because they are in need of administrative care, or management care, but they ARE admitted to a hospital because they have Medical and NURSING needs, that cannot be met safely on an outpatient basis by family members or non professional staff. Why then, are the individuals who hold the responsibly and accountability, not protected from the bean counters who reap the benefits of OUR work?

I would be happy to be considered blue collar, if I had the pay and benefits and job protection of the blue collar workers that we supervise, and/or, come into contact on a daily basis.

When nursing finally gets its act together, dumps the ANA, and the State BONs, that work on a daily basis to weaken the nursing profession, then I will gladly be called a professional.

As it stands now, nursing controls nothing but is responsible and accountable for EVERYTHING!!

Why is that? PT, OT, Pharmacists, etc, are not in that situation. They strictly limit how many new individuals are allowed to enter the profession, keeping their numbers low, and their demand high. Nursing used to be that way, until we allowed the PTB to keep stating as loud as they could, that there was a SEVERE NURSING SHORTAGE, AND NEEDED TO TURN OUT THOUSANDS OF NEW NURSES EVERY YEAR TO KEEP UP WITH THE DEMAND!!

Nurses need unions to balance the power, and even out the odds. When the other side plays by the rules, than unions will not be needed. I do not plan to see that happening in my lifetime. And my grandmother lived to be almost 101 years old. Seeing that I am the beneficiary of improved health and medicine of the past century, I fully expect to outlive my grandmother!

THAT is why nursing needs to totally unionize, just like teachers. No one ever died because they could not do long division, or diagram a sentence, but our patients are put in harms way on a daily basis due to deliberate short staffing, and de-skilling of our professional practice. TEACHERS decide how many students are in their classroom, and regularly decline to admit any more students to their classrooms.TEACHERS are not supervising unskilled teachers aides who have taken over their professional practice. TEACHERS have a minimum of a four year bachelors degrees, and more often than not, a Masters degree to enter practice.

But nurses who hold patients lives in their hands can enter the profession with a one year LPN/LVN degree? The ANA has not yet decided on the issue. The ANA is the one who should be determining the entry into practice. In the absence of ANY guidance from the ANA, hospitals are deciding our entry into practice. That is not their place to determining entry into practice, but the ANA left them no choice.

Now THEY decide to only hire BSNs, not pay more, and making nurses, in the last years of their working lives to go back to school to earn BSNs, take on more debt, or lose their jobs.

Other professions, PTs, OTs, Pharmacists, were paid to go back to school, classes were held on site, and there was universal grandfathering in of ALL members of the profession, and no one was penalized if they did not want to go back. Is this happening in nursing? No. Because we are allowing the hospitals to call the shots.

And we have virtually NO say in the matter. We should be ashamed of ourselves, and the individuals who continue to shame nursing by name calling (blue collar), and not DEFENDING THOSE OF US WHO ARE TRYING TO KEEP NURSING A PROFESSION THAT WE CAN CONTROL!

If you have a better idea on how nursing can take control our profession, WITHOUT UNIONIZING, have universal staffing ratios, receive better pay and benefits, etc, without having to resort to unionizing, then I am all ears.

I have yet to hear any anti-union nurse articulate a more workable idea on how to accomplish the task of nursing taking over the control of our profession, and bringing more respect to nursing. Spare me the," the public votes us the most trusted profession" every year, blah, blah, blah. Trust does NOT equal RESPECT!

If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you.

As usual, JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN (ret)

Somewhere in the PACNW

[toomuchbaloney]

Decide whether you want to be a professional or a blue collar worker. That's the choice

I believe this statement identifies you as a poorly informed person as related to nursing in America today as well as what constitutes a "professional".

Why don't you expand upon your comments and prove me wrong.

Please start with how it is "professional" to not unionize and thereby accept the poor treatment of yourself and other nurses by employers.

[Rodman]

The fact that you think that nurses "need" the unions speaks volumes. The market decides what one is worth as far as financial compensation. As long as nurses are willing to accept the pay and working conditions, there is really no basis to be paid more. It is a supply demand thing. Don't accept the job and pay and then complain that it is not enough.. Find another job that pays more or go in to another profession. There hospitals exist and are solvent because of some some very talented people that run them like a business.

IF hospitals were run by emotion and not business they would (and have) gone under. That decreases access to care...

[Rodman]

Real simple.. .Nurses in a union become a trade workers. True professionals have control over the direction of their practice. You can cry about your license being "on the line" but really, you are protected by the hospital that you say mistreats you. In the situation of a law suit your malpractice insurance is covered by the hospital and that is the only reason you would be named. An attorney will not come after you if you have no assets to take, such as in the case of the hospital a physician, dentist etc...

[lindarn]

The market is being controlled by the PTB, that have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by disempowering nurses. This is being accomplished by the overproduction of nurses, which is causing a glut of unemployed nurses. These new nurses are willing to work for peanuts, and now sometimes for FREE to gain experience to be able to get a job.

The ONLY way for nurses to gain power and control is to belong to an organization, a union. By exerting a unified voice with an organization who can now exert control over the PTB.

You are in la la land, if you think that a nurse can make demands against hospital, and win. They will be shown the door, and be blacklisted and unable to obtain employment to support themselves, and their families.

THAT is why nurses need unions!!

JMHO and my NY $0.02

Lindarn. RN, BSN, CCRN(ret)

Somewhere in the PACNW

[Anna S, RN]

If employers would treat employees fairly, unions would not get voted in. But most employers treat nurses (and others) like crap, and it's getting worse, so unions are growing- due to employers.

[Anna S, RN]

Real simple.. .Nurses in a union become a trade workers. True professionals have control over the direction of their practice. You can cry about your license being "on the line" but really, you are protected by the hospital that you say mistreats you. In the situation of a law suit your malpractice insurance is covered by the hospital and that is the only reason you would be named. An attorney will not come after you if you have no assets to take, such as in the case of the hospital a physician, dentist etc...

"Unions are for non-professionals" is an old line of B.S. There are unionized physicians and dentists.

Union of American Physicians and Dentists - Affiliated with AFSCME and AFL-CIO