Union Intent on Improving the Lot of Nurses Nationwide

Nurses Union

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Nurses strike is part of larger labor push

Kaiser nurses walked off job over Ebola, staffing levels

By Hudson Sangree

[email protected]

11/12/2014

A strike during the past two days by 18,000 nurses at Kaiser Permanente facilities in northern and central California, including three major Sacramento-area hospitals, was the latest salvo by a powerful union that says it is intent on improving the lot of nurses nationwide.

Strikes and protests took place in 16 states and Washington, D.C., where nurses held a vigil outside the White House on Wednesday. The centerpiece of the action was the California strike against 86 Kaiser facilities in nearly two dozen cities including, Fresno, Stockton and Oakland, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The California Nurses Association has used such mass walkouts in recent years to pressure Kaiser and other hospitals on a variety of work issues. This week, the group and its umbrella organization, National Nurses United, said they called the strike to bring attention to the dangers nurses face dealing with Ebola cases – and what union leaders say is an erosion of patient care under large health organizations.

Even after two nurses in Dallas were infected by an Ebola patient, many hospitals still lack full-body protective suits and sufficient training to deal with potential Ebola cases, said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United...

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article3880157.html#storylink=cpy

I am an ER nurse and make $52000 a year with an employer 401K contribution of 3% per year (only 90% of one year's pay over a 30 year career total) and horrible health insurance coverage that doesn't include vision. I am abused (by drunks, the mentally ill, unruly family members, overdoses, criminals), stressed (running trauma, STEMI, stroke, arterial bleed suicide attempts, etc.), have more patients than recommended by every academic and professional agency (adds greatly to stress), make life or death decisions routinely (as mentioned above), work nights (killing my social life). I believe my societal benefit is as great or greater than many other public sector employees who have job security and a pension. God knows I have much more education than they do, and no downtime like teachers, police and firefighters do. So, people wonder why my hospital cannot retain staff and why healthcare is kinda a ****** profession. This is why. Because you'll never be compensated the way you should be unless you have a great union. Good for the California Nursing Union. If I take a sick day I get my name on the unit board (quite literally) and it is talked about as if I have let everyone down. We get our schedule only 2 weeks in advance making it almost impossible to plan for time off. Oh, and my hospital doesn't pay incentive on time, with many people refusing to work incentive hours because of payroll issues, and others hunting down HR and the manager to be paid properly (which may or may not happen months later). My labor position reminds me of the 19th century and the work environment before unions. Nurses need to grow a pair and put management in their place.

Specializes in Psych.

Yet you choose to work in these poor conditions. Your job and your choice. You can and will be replaced.

Specializes in School Nursing.
Yet you choose to work in these poor conditions. Your job and your choice. You can and will be replaced.

I do wonder why one would continue to work under these circumstances. But then, the answer is the same as it was 80 years ago, prior to labor laws, you NEED to make a living, and these are common conditions everywhere there aren't unions and regulations. "You can and will be replaced" is the bottom line... this country and people BELONG to the employer, leaving us to 'suck it up' if we want to make a living.

I feel very lucky to have found an employer that puts patient care first. I work long hours and don't get overtime (salaried), but I am lucky that I have a supportive spouse and that we don't NEED that overtime pay to get by. It's a trade off, for sure. Many people aren't as lucky.

Yet you choose to work in these poor conditions. Your job and your choice. You can and will be replaced.

And the conditions at another hospital a few miles over are going to be better? Unlikely, due to the massive amount of consolidation we're seeing across the nation. Hospital A is now owned by Hospital B who happens to be run by the same large, consolidated network named "_____ Healthcare." (Fill in the blank with whatever catchy title you wish).

But yes, it is a seller's market. And healthcare employers are taking full advantage of a surplus of talent. They count on being able to replace it at will.

Specializes in Critical Care.

My hospital has finally brought up Ebola and has a online class about it. We were told to look up how to put on and take off protective equipment online. Nothing mentioned about space suits or respirators. I don't think we have these yet and don't know if they plan to provide them anytime soon. Another hospital a trauma center has already stepped up to be the main Ebola hospital in our area, but I don't know what preparations they have taken. Hopefully we won't need to find out!

Specializes in Critical Care.
Yet you choose to work in these poor conditions. Your job and your choice. You can and will be replaced.

In the US, more and more hospitals are being run like this. Without a good union, there is nothing to do to improve working conditions or wages. The best you can do is job hop and get raises that way and hope the next place is better than the last. Many people I know have done that and found it only a mirage. Some have even come back finding the new job is even worse than the old!

There is no national law mandating pensions or a minimum retirement plan. It is entirely up to the generosity or lack thereof of the corporations involved. More and more healthcare conglomerations are profit driven and switching to 401K/403B in place of pensions and cutting the matching contribution. I don't know about New Zealand, but I believe I read Australia has a retirement system mandating companies and employees pay into a retirement system that seems to be better than the Social Security system in the US.

What is it like in New Zealand? Govt support? Unions? Better pensions? Just curious.

The only state in America that has mandated safe staffing ratios is CA and that is complements of all the work the National Nurses United did to bring it about. I think they are the best hope for nurses in America!

The only state in America that has mandated safe staffing ratios is CA and that is complements of all the work the National Nurses United did to bring it about. I think they are the best hope for nurses in America!

My concern is the full-tilt rush to the right of the American political establishment. Money is power and "they" have much more of it than do "we."

I will be surprised if we don't see the already-aggressive union-busting that's been occurring over the last few years accelerate over the next few years.

It seems to me healthcare is run by big insurance for big insurance... hospitals and healthcare workers are merely a bother to them...

Specializes in Med-Surg and Neuro.

This is a bit off-topic, but I just have to say it: joe, nurses work less than teachers. 3 12's a week comes to 156 days a year (assuming no vacation days used), versus 180-190 for typical teachers (some work year-round, like in juvenile detention centers, teachers don't get vacation days). Plus, nurses make more money.

Yes, nursing is rough, but so are a lot of other professions. Don't assume it's a cakewalk for everyone else.

Specializes in Dialysis.
This is a bit off-topic, but I just have to say it: joe, nurses work less than teachers. 3 12's a week comes to 156 days a year.

I am listed at 3 12's a week but I report to work at 06:45, don't get paid for a lunch break I can't take due to understaffing, can't leave before 19:15, but it doesn't matter because I work beyond that time with charting and helping the next shift. So 36 is more like 40 to 50 and throw in a little on call at 3 dollars an hour so no, being a teacher is in no way comparable to what I do.

Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

Just a reminder that Unions don't organize workers. Workers organize themselves as a result of their EMPLOYERS BEHAVIOR and the vehicle they use to organize is a UNION.

As to retirement benefits, if you have a defined contribution plan (401K and 403B) the minimum employer match should be approximately 7-8%. This would put it on par with the cost of a defined benefit pension and is consistent with financial experts that say about 15% per year is needed to adequately fund a retirement income.

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