Explain how Unions Work in Nursing

[CCHADWI]

Exactly what is a nurses union? What do they do? How do they operate? How do union leaders get their positions? This is a chance to explain to those who don't know what a union is good or bad for.

[Anonymous]

I worked union in a factory and IMHO it's just another layer of buearacracy. And if the "shop steward" doesn't like you forget it. IMHO you don't have much more clout than with out a union.

I worked at Danbury Hospital in Danbury CT . One of the nurses in the dialysis unit was a "shop steward" and none of the nurses hardly spoke to her. She was all union..Sure she was she was trying to get out of work alledging all these different allergies to the air filtration system, the mop water the housekeepers used. But she had been "voted" in and until her term was up the other nurse were at her mercy. And IMHO again she was only looking out for herself.

JMHO..

WR,,, three commas for Becca

I will voice my own issues, vote with my feet, and talk to my boss and his boss all on my own.. I am a big girl now. I don't need/want any one else speaking for me. Thanks but no thanks.

[1mg.epi]

A rep from a union will try to organize a group to push for the union telling people, "IT WILL BE GOOD."

The Nurses will vote to have a union. If the union is voted in the rep will say, "This is good."

The union rep will arbitrate to get us pay raises that we would have gotten any ways, and he will say, "This is good."

Then on our pay day we will pay our union dues, most of which will go to the union rep, and he will say, "THIS IS GOOD."

[Anonymous]

Your assessment This is good and so true.


WR,,, three commas for Becca

Ya know if it's too good to be true it probably is...LOLLL

[cassioo]

I also worked in a factory with a union and there I think it was good but I don't see it's place in nursing at least not around here.
In a factory if they didn't like you for whatever reason and fired you they could pick about anyone and train them to work the assembly line within a day or 2 but for nurses they can't just fire you and immediately fill your position. I don't see nurses around here getting fired for just anything. And are pay is ok I'd like more but it's ok and we do get yearly raise or lump sum bonus based on performance not just based on it's Oct and time to get a raise.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to disagree but I believe unions are the reason manufacturing jobs are leaving the US among other things. Many unions put their companies out of business with their outlandish expectations.

JMHO

WR,,, three commas for Becca

I do believe they were a foundation for many laws and rights being granted to the working people. But I believe they have out lived their usefulness. They did their job and it's time to move on with out them

As for yearly raises you are lucky. I don't believe taking 3 years ( 30 cents a year) to get a dollar is great.

Of course if there are years that you don't get anything it might take 4 or 5.

WR,,, three commas for Becca

[cassioo]

I did work at one of the highest paying factories in this area. But you are right about jobs moving out. I think this factory has stuck around because it's a family started/run business that has grown. My ex husband still works there (has since 1979) he makes in the $19 hour range right now which is what new grad RN's make around here.

[Anonymous]

Is his job secure and is it a union shop?


WR,,, three commas for Becca

[cassioo]

yep his job is secure and it's union. He's been there since 1979. The factory is in IN and they expanded 10 yrs ago to Arkansas. They make parts for a big company (that has sent some of it's production overseas and cut workforce with automation over the last 20 years) they make more then the company they make the parts for. When I left there in 1990 I was making about $13/hr and when I started nursing in 1992 I started at about $13. They have continuted to get their raises but mine did raise much faster. We complain about co-workers and bosses as nurses but the bosses at that factory I could not stand. They were stupid and acted like everyone else was too and I was not stupid which irritated the fire out of me that I was working for them.

[nursinghumor]

Unions happen to have a pretty important place in history.

If you think about why they were started in the first place, it was to keep the railroad barons, factory owners and industrialists from working the people to death, literally, back when working conditions were "the pits."

They put limits on how many hours workers had to put in, improved "sweatshop" working conditions, forced employers to institute workplace safety measures and lots of other improvements.

In Nursing, just try getting administration these days to look at anything other than the bottom line. We're governed by bean counters and insurance companies who don't care what we do as long as we can do it cheaply.

They don't care if we work safely, can do our job and give quality care, or if we're breaking our backs and burning out due to short staffing.

A single nurse can complain till she's blue in the face. It's unlikely one person will be able to change a hospital bureaucracy.

If you become enough of a nusiance, they'll can you in a heartbeat, and there's squat you can do.

Enter a union. With increased bargaining power, the administration doesn't have a choice but to listen. You've got an upper hand when it comes to wages, working conditions, benefits and control over your environment. If they try to fire you, they have to go through the union first.

It's times like these, under shortage staffing and poor working conditions, that unions can do the most good.

Personally, I don't work in a Union Shop, know tons of nurses that do, and most are not complaining bout the unions dues compare to the benefits of representation.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursinghumor.com