Union input please

[bedhead]

Lets say you work at a Hospital whos pay is comparable with and better than most States, and they don't have mandatory overtime, staffing was good, and benefits are fair. They also offer bonuses for overtime worked above the time and half and give added pay to premium pool nurses as well. Yet some nurses think they deserve more and call in a union. Yet there are worse cases out there, what would you say if morally and ethically you thought things were good. That is my dilema. I have worked in shlepy NY and experienced all of the shortages and so on. These people don't realize how good they have it. Its a shame and I am annoyed.

[-jt]

Originally posted by Enright:

I am now in my first ever union RN job. One day, a top official in my agency asked me to take on a huge load of new job duties. I sat down with him and explained these roles were not in my job description and I'd need increased compensation. He refused. I talked to my union and the rep arranged a meeting. A very pale agency official (same one) apologized profusely stating "I am so sorry. I didn't know you were in a union. I thought you were an at will employee. Please accept my apology".

That's pretty much all I needed to know about unions!

dont you just love it!

[Jenny P]

I'm in a hospital that has the nursing association as the RN union. The idea that a painters union should be trying to organize a union for nurses is pretty ludicrous to me. Nurses know what nurses need and can get these needs met better than any other type of union. I find it strange that the California nurses have joined forces with the Steelworkers Union; and I can't understand how all of a hospitals' employees (including RNs) could ever be under 1 Service Employees contract. At the same time, nurses are some of the hardest people to get together to form a cohesive group and that may be why these other unions are involved in organizing unions for us. I know that it is very hard to get nurses involved in making our own workplace decisions, and I myself am just as guilty of skipping "mandatory" meetings after having worked a 12 hour night and the meetings are scheduled for noon and 3PM! I've worked in non-union settings, non-RN union settings, and the RN union setting, and this is the best by far. But I also know that it takes a lot of effort to get everyone involved with the bargaining unit activities; and that is a problem that I don't know if there is an easy way to fix it.