Union or Fairshare?

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I will be starting my first nursing job in a few weeks. My small community hospital just came through very contentious negotiations and now have a union. There are still a lot of strong feelings on both sides. Objectively, the union brought in a significant (and much needed) pay raise for the nurses but lost some benefits too. Many of the nurses that were not for the union originally concede that the union has done a lot of good. My dilemma is, I am unsure. One issue is that I am not sure I could support (for religious reasons) a strike unless it is for a clear safety issue. From personal experience, my husband's union became involved in many questionable (to us) political causes unrelated to his profession that eventually caused him to choose to "opt-out" . While my hospital does not have a "closed shop" I absolutely would voluntarily pay fair-share because all the nursing staff benefits from union victories. To those of you with more experience, how important is union solidarity in today's nursing environment? Would waiting to join until I am sure be perceived as non-supportive? I welcome your thoughts.

thanks again jt--would you ever be interested in a program where the hospitals would let us have a penpal(professionalpal)ha,where we could take turns visiting each others unit for a couple weeks--i can only imagine the work load a brooklyn hospital must carry compared to my planetree hospital here. AND thats got to be the difference in that payscale--cost of living is 20% higher,yet pay is 50% higher. you see for 28yrs,my scale is 54000(whew)but i couldn't trade spots-happy monday soon!

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I can tell you right now......copied straight from the Safe Staffing Clause in my contract.....

Maximum number of pts that may be assigned to an RN:

ICU, CCU, Peds ICU, NICU = 1:2

Telemetry = 1:6/7 with 1 PCA per 10 pts

Resp step down = 1:6 with 1 PCA

Neuro = 1:7 with 1 PCA

Stroke Unit = 1:3/4 with 1 PCA

Surgery = 1:7 with 1 PCA per 12 pts

Psych = 1:9 with 1 psych tech per RN

Medical = 1:7 with 1 PCA per 10 pts

Oncology = 1:7 with 1 PCA per 10 pts

Renal = 1:7 with 1 PCA per 9 pts

Rehab = 1:7 with 1 PCA per RN

Mother/ Baby = 1: 6 pairs

Pediatrics = 1:7 with 1 PCA per 7 pts

Step down Nursery = 1:4

ED (for average 155 visits per day) = 8 Rns, 4 Med techs, "Fast Track" MD ER Office - 1 LPN

OR (for average 1200 cases per month) = 19 Rns, 16 Surg Techs

Ambulatrory Surgery = 8 RNs, 2 PCAs

PACU = 6 RNs, 2 PCAs >>

All of these are the minimum staffing allowed & the RNs on each unit decided these ratios themselves - floor by floor.

BTW, about the 20% higher cost of living and the 50% higher salaries, besides cost of living, you have to also take into account that we have been unionized for more than 40 yrs - fighting for & obtaining those higher wages & benefits for decades, so we're a bit ahead of the game. ; )

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we've had union for about 20yrs,so yes you're ahead of the game.I feel when a nurse is working in that size unit-the pay should be higher--i've only seen things from happening there by watching NYPD blues(ha) thanks for sharing--vjg

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jt states:

"Jehovahs Witness. Belonging to the union is a condition of employment at my hospital ( Closed shop). The religious JW are covered by our contract, have their union dues sent to a charity, and cannot walk a strike line. They do support it in other ways."

I was very puzzled by this statement re: Jehovah's joining unions and consulted the local Jehovahs Witness organization. They informed me that there are absolutely no rules regarding this. JWs can join unions and walk a strike line. She tells me that it is more of a personal moral issue when it comes to nurses going on strike and that would be a tough call for nurses of any religion.

If these JW nurses are having their dues sent to a charity, other nurses should have that right, too. You have a "closed shop"--I would challenge this.

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Suggestion:

Join so YOU will be part of the decision making. You can hold office or at least vote.

Please don't decide to stay out of the union then complain. Speak your opinion!

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