Why Colorado Nurses need a Union

[mikkie1317]

Hi all my Colorado Nursing Friends

OK! I am venting right now! So in my search for jobs in Colorado, I was shocked by the starting pay for nurses, the lack of staffing ratios and the astronomical housing prices, I just feel that it is so unfair and I think the nurses need a union to speak for them. I had recruiters tell me that they do not like dealing with California Nurses because we are spoiled. Really? We are spoiled because WE HAVE UNIONS who stand for us,

Making sure that we have raises minimum of a dollar every year,

Good health benefits, retirement savings

Enforced Staffing ratios with hospitals paying penalties when they are not in compliance with staffing ratios

Our pay scale matches the cost of living

How can nurses be paid$26.35/hr and the cost of a 2 bed/bath apartment is $1800

This is not fair. My Colorado nurses, please speak up use your voices.

Nursing is a profession and not charity, lawyers and Doctors get well paid, why should nurses be paid less.

Thanks

[klone, MSN, RN]

Nursing is a profession and not charity, lawyers and Doctors get well paid, why should nurses be paid less.

Thanks

Because those are doctorate-level professions and nursing is not?

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

People are willing to move here and work for crap pay despite a rising cost of living. The key word is WILLING.

It would not cost so much if all the Californians etc would stop moving here. The super annoying part is that they move here then complain how California was better. If it is so great, go home.

[mikkie1317]

I lived in Colorado before moving the California, the main reason I am moving back to Colorado is too be close to my family. I believe Nursing is different in every state, there are some things in California which I like better as compared to Colorado and vice versa. I guess if the nurses from Colorado are not complaining then who am I to complain. I thought allnurses.com was a forum for nurses to support and hear each other out. I guess I was wrong.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Dont live in denver and the cost of living drops dramatically.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Yes, we need a union. Kaiser RNs make about $10 more an hour than hospital nurses.

[heatherisbetter, BSN]

As you can tell Colorado nurses want a union but what are they going to do? I think that ALL states should have nursing unions! People are just afraid to stir the pot and no one wants to get the ball rolling....

[salvadordolly]

I worked in Denver in the 1990's. Sounds like little has changed. The Rocky Mountain States have traditionally been the lowest paying in the nation. IN terms of hospital culture, all the places I worked tended to be rigid and micromanaging than other states I had been in. Highly dysfunctional and poor work environments for nurses. In the seven years, I was there, no jobs allowed nurses to actually take a vacation. And yes, the pay! IN 1995, $15-16/hour. I moved to Wisconsin in 2000, my pay for the same job started at $36.50/hour with good benefits, nice work environments, able to take vacations, and far better management!

Pay only increases there out of force. East and West Cost hospitals tend to keep up with cost of living. Pay increased in early 2000's only because of mass attrition from the profession. Because of all the influx of wealthy people moving there, employment in retail and restaurant businesses were in high demand. The starting pay was higher than that of LPN's and only slightly less than RN's. The tech and comm industries allowed nurses to switch professions also.

If you talk to other nurses there, they don't disagree with you, but they are quite passive about changing things. Historically, nurses there just vote with their feet. Denver experiences intense shortages rather frequently. Because of the rise of large systems that dominate, any employment difficulty at one facilities leads you to be locked out of the entire system for other jobs, so you will be forced to move anyway.

If you are having this reaction already, working in Denver probably won't work for you. although positions may be easier to obtain than in California.

Another poster made a slightly snarky comment, but may have been trying to help you. I noticed as this poster did that California nurses don't like working in Denver and usually went back. They also missed being around water or other recreational outlets.

I looked at this post because I am in the same place as you, most of my family lives in Denver and have asked me to consider coming back as I have fallen on hard times. I have been hesitant to leave the Midwest as nursing culture and health care are better here as well as better schools, lower costs of living, more kid-friendly, etc.

Good luck!

[NurseRies, BSN, RN]

I don't know about anyone else, but I go to a lot of hospitals as an acute dialysis nurse. Across the 12 hospitals I routinely go to, ICU nurses and floor nurses are overworked and short staffed. My team is absolutely drowning right now, it's unsafe. Nursing has become a revolving door of employment, people running like rats from job to job looking for a good place to work. Does it even exist? We need to stand up for our rights, patient safety, pay for years experience , yearly raises, cost of living assessments.

I shouldn't have to work 55-60 hours a week to save for a house and pay day to day expenses with no kids. I am tired of listening to nurses complain that they're underpaid and overworked. Does anyone know if there's any kind of movement towards a union?

[Nurse216]

There was a push back in the early 2000's by a group of nurses from St. A's, apparently that never worked. We need a union. I have 2 years of experience and I'm only making $25.00/hr. For the stress, anxiety and catching Dr's mistakes, I feel my worth is more than 25/ hr