Why are so many nurses against unions?

Nurses Union

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I really don't understand. I am a newish nurse that landed my "dream job" in the icu. My hospital is the biggest and best in the area and we are currently on a journey to magnet. I feel like I was lied to about how this would help nurses and we would be supported and taken care of.

In my icu we have a very high acuity. We are constantly short staffed and tripled. 1:1 for ccrt pts is advertised but never actually happens!

I have seen a patient self extubate during the holy interdisciplinary rounds due to that nurse being tripled and spread out across the unit. None of the bosses said any thing and just went on to round on the next patient.

The majority of our assistants will not help unless asked and it's like pulling teeth just to get them to help with a blood sugar check. Often they are sitting on their cellphones or just catching up on gossip. But since they have worked there a long time it is widely accepted by the staff.

We have are losing staff nurses left and right.

I have been talked down to by our surgeons and blatantly disrespected on more than one occasion for trying to help a patient but not enough to be considered abusive so that I could report it. Once, I calmly asked a doc to update the close family members of a dying patient at their request. Since a distant family had been updated, the doctor was visibly offended and proceeded to call my charge nurse and say "I got in her face" which was completely false. Luckily the charge was within ear shot and heard everything. This was swept under the rug.

During my new nurse orientation the nursing instructor preached against unions especially since we were going magnet and would have so many benefits.

I feel like a strong nurse union could solve many of our problems and help our patient care. But the majority of nurses I have talked to are completely against it. I can't understand this for the life of me.

Sadly, my dream job has turned to hell. I love my sick patients and family but sick of being overworked, tripled, never even getting a lunch break, all while being talked down to and humiliated by the Dr.s that see me as a stupid new nurse.

With a union in place, the nurse doing a minimally acceptable job is treated (for the most part) the same as a nurse that goes the extra mile. I personally don't mind this.

1 Votes
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
With a union in place, the nurse doing a minimally acceptable job is treated (for the most part) the same as a nurse that goes the extra mile. I personally don't mind this.

That happens in non-Union places as well, especially when management likes them-so that is a myth.

At least with a union management is forced to maintain fairness throughout,m. :yes:

4 Votes
Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I was just at Brigham and Womens in March with my Dad. They're union.

Intermediate med surge, the nurse had a ratio of 1:2. The IV beeped and she was *right there*, it was amazing. I seriously couldn't get over the level of care or the amount of residents wandering around.

One resident waited outside the room for the nurse to finish the EKG. What??? I thought I was in some alternate reality.

Just thought I'd share. Happy nurses, happy patients and friendly residents. Don't see whats not to love :)

2 Votes

I have to disagree. the problem is that you are not unionized and the lpns are. We still work for the hospital and the union works for me. its sounds to me like you have been fed a lot of union busting agenda. that doesnt surprise me considering you are not union. i can switch my schedule if I have a person willing to do it.

Specializes in Critical care.

i would never work without a union,. sounds like most of you people work in hell or lower

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych/Med Surg/Ortho/Tele/Peds.

I used to be on the fence regarding unions, but now as a new RN, I am proud to be part of CNA.

I have a great relationship with management because I knew many of them from my days as an Infection Prevention assistant while in nursing school.

Perception of unions depends on the company culture and most importantly where you are in the country. I work in Los Angeles, and that's just what we do out here.

Best of luck in your situation, i hope it gets better.

1 Votes

I appreciate everything about the union I belong to except for seniority in hiring. I think that it is short sighted to have to give internal job postings to individuals who have been with the organization longer, even if they have fewer qualifications for a position than a newer nurse.

I just gave 2 weeks notice for same reasons as you state after working there many years.

I am not a fan of nurse unions because they spend our hard earned money supporting things like Occupy Wall Street, the Robin Hood Tax and (generally) far left political candidates, all the while having little effect in the workplace for on the ground nurses. If they did more of what they were supposed to do then I would support them.

1 Votes

When you really need them they are there though and better than having attorney! That's just my feelings! I was against unions for years but I am proud to be in the union and supportive of unions to protect our rights . We need a lot of change and laws to enforce nurse: patient ratio

should be national and throughout the US not just Cali. I believe that is the Unions main goal now

2 Votes
Specializes in Telemetry, Emergency, Cardiology, Respiratory.

I'm not from the US but I can tell you what the nurses union has achieved for nurses here in NZ.

We get guaranteed payrises twice a year every year, one payrise when you reach your annual anniversary date and another annual payrise to reflect CPI.

We get paid 150% for working weekends and public holidays and 25% for working afternoons or nights.

We get 7 weeks annual leave. And get 10 days of paid sick leave or domestic leave every year.

Get sent off to courses for free and can apply for study leave.

We can't work more than 7 days in a row even if we want to, have to have a minimum 12 hour break between shifts, and our rosters have to be published at least 28 days in advance so we can plan our private and social lives ahead.

Everytime a nurse has an issue with management or gets into trouble for any reason the union send a representative to deal with it.

I've never been made to feel unimportant and doctors treat nurses with respect and in the rare occasion they dont they are immediately put in their place. We call all our doctors by their first names including the most senor consultants. I guess that's more of a culture rather than the union's doing but you get the idea of how people work here.

3 Votes
Specializes in ED.

I am the daughter of a Teamster from waaaaaay back. My dad was a machinist. They (corporations) started this union busting thing a very, very long time before that--and they have their schtick down to an art, on how to scare the bejeeezus out of workers. Convincing them to decide AGAINST THEIR BEST INTERESTS. (not unlike American politics)

I worked in Philly when Allegheny came in and broke the unions there--1996-1997. I warned them. I remember sitting in the breakroom and warning those staffers what happened in W.PA with my dad's union and the debacle at Cannonsburg. It was WAR.

They will do this. RNs may be fearful of unionizing, but they aren't against it. The only people you will see TROLLING these boards or in your hospital---bad mouthing unions? Are the ones that profit from NOT HAVING A UNION. Qui bono. Follow the money.

It takes big brass cojones to form a union in a hospital. Try saying that word in the South. See how fast you get fired. See it done and I regret every single microsecond I've wasted on trying to talk sense into some of these brainwashed people.

Honey, leave. You are a COMMODITY, particularly with ICU experience. Have you checked the traveler rates for ICU RNs? $3K a WEEK? Seriously? No staff meetings? No EBP projects for your unit? Nothing but showing up and DOING YOUR JOB? For that money---I am considering a change from ED to ICU :)

What these hospitals rely on is comfort zones. Nurses who are rooted in an area, who cannot leave for one reason or another (and I can't find one single reason that is legitimate that I could not uproot my family and leave if my employer was abusing me. It's all in your priorities!)---and they are STUCK.

Those are the ones at the hospitals around a very popular Atlantic seaboard twin cities. You want a particular "name" on your resume, so you come here. It's hell on earth. The hospitals know that they have something that you want. They get away with sucking out your soul for however long you have determined you will take it. Then they will move on to the next batch of people who want that name on their resume.

It's not the RNs' fault, per se. But fear does a lot to a person. Watch "The Insider". Take a look at the union busters of yore. Talk to someone like me---who lived through Teamster picket lines and union busters (fearing my dad wouldn't come home every night)--or watching as Allegheny CRUSHED the unions in Philly---3K workers handed their pink slips in a week.

They did crap like trained our FILE CLERK to draw blood and do basic lab testing! He would brag that he could "get anybody" on a draw---until we figured out that he was doing ART STICKS and putting a flipping BAND AID on the wound!

Yep. They will do this and they have done this. RNs know deep down that unionizing would prevent a lot of this garbage from happening, but they are fearful of losing their jobs (will happen before a union gets in. they'll fire every single one of you who say that word, trust me). Some are "stuck" and again, fearful of losing their jobs.

And...there are some pretty bad RNs as well. Just like the old joke about the doctor. What do you call a nurse that graduated last in her nursing school class? Nurse. There are good ones and bad ones. Conscientious ones and lazy AF sociopathic ones. Just because you pass some exams and go through the motions to get where you are, doesn't mean I would want you working on me or my loved ones.

Look. If you want to have safe staffing, lunch breaks, shift limits (hours) and respect? Demand them. If you are afraid to say "UNIONIZE" in your area? Move. There are "great people" and "dream jobs" everywhere. Look for them.

When RNs start getting serious about this issue, and vote with their feet---the hospitals will do something about it. Until then, you get these hospitals that are 90% travelers. I love travelers (was one myself)---but a hospital that is staffed by nothing but hired guns---is a hospital that needs to close down.

I am leaving after getting that "famous name" on my resume--and people will "oooo!!!!" and "ahhhh!!!" and think it means something, but in my head I'll be thinking--I wouldn't let my worst enemy be treated at any of those "Big Three" hospitals. Not ever.

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