Would you ever be a scab?

[klone, MSN, RN]

Due to a short stint in travel nursing, I am now on the email list of several travel nursing companies. I just received an email from one company, talking about how they're gearing up to send 300+ nurses out to Maine, in anticipation of a strike.

They're only guaranteeing 36 hours total, and they anticipate the strike may end by that time. And they're offering $46/hour for a week of work.

I don't know, if I'm going to uproot my life, fly across country, cross a picket line of angry nurses, and only have one week of guaranteed work, I darn well better be paid more than $46/hour!

What say you?

Would you, could you, be a scab? For $46/hour?

[caliotter3]

Why do you use the pejorative term? What is wrong with calling them something that does not connotate a negative opinion of the worker? Lots of out of work nurses do this sort of work because they can't get a regular job. I doubt they appreciate being called names because they need to work to support themselves and their families. Just a thought.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Is it a pejorative? It was just always the term I've heard used, as someone who fills in for a striking worker. No insult intended or meant.

Would you prefer "eschar"?

Seriously, though, I did not mean insult. I honestly didn't know 'scab' was considered an insulting term.

[OttawaRPN]

Very unlikely. They're probably lobbying for the very same work related issues that we've all encountered at one time or another, so I would not disrespect them by crossing the picket line.

Besides, at $46/hr, it almost sounds like a bribe.

Solidarity over money!

[klone, MSN, RN]

Besides, at $46/hr, it almost sounds like a bribe.

See, I thought the opposite. For a travel nursing position, it seemed an awfully low wage to cross a picket line.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Why do you use the pejorative term? What is wrong with calling them something that does not connotate a negative opinion of the worker? Lots of out of work nurses do this sort of work because they can't get a regular job. I doubt they appreciate being called names because they need to work to support themselves and their families. Just a thought.

The way union folks feel a out them, that's pretty

much as mild a term as we could use. The willingness to stand with the bosses against your fellow workers is part of the reason for the enormous shift in income and wealth this country has experienced in the last 30 or so years. Only when workers learn to stand together will they stop pushing us down.

[OCNRN63, RN]

You mean would I be willing to stab my sisters and brothers in nursing in the back for my own financial gain? Would I be willing to send the message to a dysfunctional hospital's administration that the nursing profession is unsupportive of its own and fragmented?

Nah. Not so much.

[AggieNurse99, BSN, RN]

I could never cross a picket (sp?) line. Dad was union. 'course I'm probably the odd man out here in Texas....

[sunnycalifRN]

No, I don't cross picket lines.

[elkpark]

No. Never. I don't even cross picket lines that have nothing to do with nursing.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Probably not. I would only even consider it if I felt fully educated about the issues involved in the strike and totally confident that the strikers were wrong. But even then, I would be hesitant.

If I were NOT 100% confident that the strikers were wrong, I hope I would not consider it -- even if I needed the money. I hope I would keep my integrity even if I were poor and find some other way to earn money.

[nicurn001]

the strike breakers would be selling themselves cheaply for that amount of pay , even cheaper than Judas .

Frankly if you can't handle being called a scab , don't betray your fellow nurses by crossing a picket line . They considered long and hard before voting to strike , NO nurse enjoys going on strike .