Union vs. Nonunion-Worth Dues Paid?

Nurses General Nursing

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:confused: which do you prefer: union or non-union hospitals?

if you work for a union hospital, how much do you pay in dues, and is it worth it? :rolleyes:

thank you very much for your input! :kiss

Roxy:

You sound like an administrator. Dead wood and Non Union Hospitals go hand in hand just look in the administration office.

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Yes. Expect that this is something your employer will fight tooth & nail to prevent. That alone should give a hint to nurses that maybe being organized might just be to their benefit. Why else would administration try to the bitter end and spend millions to stop nurses from doing it? Anyway, go to the library & read "Confessions of A Union Buster". It will you show you exactly what to expect.

also check out the info at: http://www.uannurse.org/uan/achieving.htm

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Originally posted by RoxyBen

I've worked at non-union and union hospitals and I'll take a non-union place any day. Unions DO work to elevate RN salaries and for that I am eternally grateful but there seems to always be a downside...mediocrity! In non-union hospitals nurses advance on merit not just seniority. There's too much "dead wood" in union hospitals who rely on their seniority rather than their initiative. Plus, I've never witnessed a nurse fired without cause in a non-union hospital or clinic. These institutions have a grievance procedure that mimics the union hospitals.

Unfortunately, very little of this matters since nurses can't seem to stay united. The clash between the nurses who perceive themselves in a vocation and those that perceive themselves in a profession seems to remain.

And so it goes...

Show me an objective performance evaluation and I will be the first one on board. How exactly do you propose to determine what "merits" a raise and what doesn't? I am sorry you see "mediocrity" in my work place. I'll try to pick up the pace.....

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What merits advancement are standards set by staff and managers alike. For nurses to excel they should have a set of standards that say more than just how long one has been a nurse. I've read union contracts that just give the basics of being a good employee. Unfortunately, too many nurses use this as their only guide. Not all nurses, but enough who just want to get by. Where are the standards that show us how to be great nurses?

There are levels of mediocrity in every institution and at every level. It's just that one can defend mediocrity in a union hospital by using the contract to get by.

I know my opinion isn't a popular one on message boards, but there are so many nurses, staff nurses, who believe the same. There has to be some "merit" in that. ;)

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Originally posted by -jt

I cant tell you how many nurses I work with who would love to move down to Florida - its all they talk about. When asked whats stopping them, they all say "there's no union". Being union is probably just as ingrained in our blood & mentality up here as being non-union is down there. :)

]

I live in Florida and work at a union hospital...it is the 5th largest hospital in the state...Lakeland Regional Medical Center....it is between Orlando and Tampa....just an FYI:cool: :cool: :cool:

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Originally posted by RoxyBen

What merits advancement are standards set by staff and managers alike. For nurses to excel they should have a set of standards that say more than just how long one has been a nurse. I've read union contracts that just give the basics of being a good employee. Unfortunately, too many nurses use this as their only guide. Not all nurses, but enough who just want to get by. Where are the standards that show us how to be great nurses?

There are levels of mediocrity in every institution and at every level. It's just that one can defend mediocrity in a union hospital by using the contract to get by.

I know my opinion isn't a popular one on message boards, but there are so many nurses, staff nurses, who believe the same. There has to be some "merit" in that. ;) [/quote

No matter what the standards are, that you set , it still comes down to someone making a subjective assessment, which renders the eval useless. So say you set a standard of attendance. Very commonly seen in performance evals. My manager at the nonunion hospital I quit working for took points off of evals for sick calls. Seems quite objective right? WRONG! I work in a NICU and is extremly unsafe to work around premies when you are ill. So exactly how do you propose to determine which "perfect attending" nurse was endangering patients and which "loafing" employee was actually taking patient safety into account?

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Have only worked at union. I pay $12/ every 2 weeks. It is the same amount no matter how much you work. We are an open shop.

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Joining a union is against my religion. :D

steph

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Specializes in Peds Homecare.

I think unions are a good thing, let me tell you why. When I had been practicing only two yrs I worked at a hospital that was unionized. I was very new and new nurse eaters abounded there. I had worked very hard to become an efficent nurse. I went on vacation for a week and when i returned their was a note for me on the bulliten board. I opened it and it said to report to the director of nurses at the end of my shift(I worked 11pm til 730 am) When I went into her office she told me I was terminated.:eek: I asked her why? She said I was being charged with insubordination. Needless to say, I was not guilty of the charges. I left tearfully. I called my union rep and we grieved the firing. Insubordination on your record as a new nurse back then was very serious and would have followed me the rest of my career. It was 22yrs ago. Needless to say we went all the way to arbitration....and I WON! I had to fight them tooth and nail..had to fight for my unemployment while all this was going on. My Union sent an attorney that mad mincemeat of their concocted story. I got 6 months back pay and was given my job back. I stayed there 2 more months and left for another postion. If it weren't for that union, where would I be? I do homecare now and don't have a union where I am employed, but my postion is secure and I am well liked and have been ever since that night mare 22 yrs ago. So I say unions are good things and I say thank you to the one who saved my career.:nurse: :)

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Those are in the state's Nurse Practice Act, in the National Code of Nurse Ethics, and in the National Bill of Rights for Registered Nurses (both developed and published by the American Nurses Assoc). There are also specialty standards set by the various RN specialty organizations. Showing us "how to be great nurses" is the job of all of those. It is not the function of a union contract and wont be found there.

A union contract is not meant to dictate professional standards to the nurses and it does not take the place of the above items. It is designed to set the LABOR standards for your facility. It's about the employer/employee relationship, terms of employment (salary, benefits, job security, grievance process, tuition reimbursement, etc), conditions in the workplace (safe staffing, floating, overtime, workplace hazards, etc). It itemizes things like that and the procedures to follow for them. The contract is not supposed to be teaching us how to be "great nurses". It is about detailing the employers responsibilities to us.

A union contract is not meant to dictate to nurses how to be a "good employee" either. That is the function of the facility's own Human Resources Policy Manual. If anything, the contract is more about how the facility can be a good employer.

Across the board raises and pay differentials for experience, certification, education, etc are specific in the contract and prevent managers from arbitrarily and unfairly denying someone a raise, but that doesnt mean that there cant ALSO be a merit award system. Such programs do exist at many unionized facilities.

But if your hospital doesnt offer merit bonuses for "great nurses" IN ADDITION to the guaranteed contractual raises, its only because THEY - not the union- dont want to give it to you.

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Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

Union dues are very much worth it.

In addition to what -jt said, far more eloquently then I could. A Union contract also prevents the employer from taking away or changing any benefit you already have.

In a non union environment anytime the employer wants to reduce/eliminate, for example, your health insurance or pension coverage they can just do it with out any input from the employees. And if the employees object the employer can just ignore them as they have no legal obligation to respond or negotiate with the employees.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

When I see people ask this question I must say to myself, do they ask if paying church dues is worth it, or is paying gym dues worth it? Well is job security, a voice on the job, defined benefits, guaranteed increases, just cause worth the cost of union dues? I would have to say ABSOLUTELY.

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