Why do nurses go on strike so often?

[mentos]

Nurses at Tufts Medical Center go on strike - The Boston Globe

This is the first strike in 31 years for a major Boston hospital, but it seems like there's always a strike going on at some hospital. It says the major issue is that nurses want to keep their pension (must be nice) vs. switching to a 401k-type plan.

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[confettiflyer]

When you have 300+ million people in one country, there's bound to be some activity going on at any given time.


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[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

Nurses at Tufts Medical Center go on strike - The Boston Globe

This is the first strike in 31 years for a major Boston hospital, but it seems like there's always a strike going on at some hospital. It says the major issue is that nurses want to keep their pension (must be nice) vs. switching to a 401k-type plan.

I think it's because in a hospital setting, all nurses deal with the exact same emotions. No matter what department they go to, they deal with the exact same problems from crappy patients, bossy doctors and admins and even other crappy nurses as well as working long hours. It's so many of them (and tbh, this is the main reason why they strike; it's hard to replace 100+ all at the same time vs the 12 CPhTs) and they all can relate to one another so it's easy for them to become unified against an issue. Compared to doctors where an ER surgeon can't really relate to the day to day activities and problems of, let's say an ophthalmologist in the same hospital and vice versa. And I think the fact that they are truly needed since no other health profession in a hospital wants to deal with the things they deal with plays a part in the strikes. Nurses, as a group, are irreplaceable and once you start feeling irreplaceable, you start requesting/demanding things that you wouldn't otherwise.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Lnsean]

Nurses at Tufts Medical Center go on strike - The Boston Globe

This is the first strike in 31 years for a major Boston hospital, but it seems like there's always a strike going on at some hospital. It says the major issue is that nurses want to keep their pension (must be nice) vs. switching to a 401k-type plan.

Because they know they can and they know it's a powerful tool to get what they are asking for. I wish pharmacists would be able to do this.

 

[MatCauthon]

Nursing unions have vast power. They are able to unify and gain public sympathy. I work at a hospital that has 2 unions, one for nursing and one for everyone else. The nursing union has benefits, vacation packages, retirement plans that are massively higher than the other union. Every time the hospital tries to cut the benefits the nursing union threatens to go on strike. Meanwhile, the other union faces cuts on every union contract.

 

[Digsbe]

Nurses are the largest healthcare profession and have strong lobbying power. There is also a reason why NPs in several states have independent practice rights while no PAs do. There is power in numbers.

 

[npage148]

They also work together. I bet you couldn't get 20 rph together willing to go on strike. And there's a lot at every facility so it's visible. Imagine 2 lone pharmacists standing in front of Walgreens with picket signs.

 

[Dred Pirate]

They also work together. I bet you couldn't get 20 rph together willing to go on strike. And there's a lot at every facility so it's visible. Imagine 2 lone pharmacists standing in front of Walgreens with picket signs.

walgreens Rph's did go on strike in Chicago 10+ years ago - the managers obviously couldn't - eventually the rph's broke down because they didn't want to go long enough without pay - the union was busted.

 

[confettiflyer]

Nurses:

Pharmacists:

 

[PharmtoCS]

eventually the rph's broke down because they didn't want to go long enough without pay - the union was busted.

$200k in loans will put you in such a position.

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[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

$200k in loans will put you in such a position.

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If it was today, youre absolutely right. But I doubt school cost 200k more than 10 years ago....

 

[PikminOC]

I think it's because in a hospital setting, all nurses deal with the exact same emotions. No matter what department they go to, they deal with the exact same problems from crappy patients, bossy doctors and admins and even other crappy nurses as well as working long hours. It's so many of them (and tbh, this is the main reason why they strike; it's hard to replace 100+ all at the same time vs the 12 CPhTs) and they all can relate to one another so it's easy for them to become unified against an issue. Compared to doctors where an ER surgeon can't really relate to the day to day activities and problems of, let's say an ophthalmologist in the same hospital and vice versa. And I think the fact that they are truly needed since no other health profession in a hospital wants to deal with the things they deal with plays a part in the strikes. Nurses, as a group, are irreplaceable and once you start feeling irreplaceable, you start requesting/demanding things that you wouldn't otherwise.

Just my opinion though.

At tufts, the Physicians covered the work

 

[NYCGuy86]

At tufts, the Physicians covered the work

They hired replacement nurses.

 

[PikminOC]

Physicians covered until nurses got there
. When she left the floor of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), she said there were no replacement nurses to care for more than two dozen babies in the NICU, so physicians were stepping in to help.

Rhonda Mann, a hospital spokeswoman, confirmed that there was a physician in every NICU room “to make sure the transition from our nurses to the replacement nurses went smoothly” and to “provide assistance and reassurance to parents.”
Tufts nurse says she never expected to strike

There was a gap. And Physicians do not strike

 

[NYCGuy86]

Physicians covered until nurses got there
. When she left the floor of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), she said there were no replacement nurses to care for more than two dozen babies in the NICU, so physicians were stepping in to help.

Rhonda Mann, a hospital spokeswoman, confirmed that there was a physician in every NICU room “to make sure the transition from our nurses to the replacement nurses went smoothly” and to “provide assistance and reassurance to parents.”
Tufts nurse says she never expected to strike

There was a gap. And Physicians do not strike

Covered by doing what? For how long? And what exactly is your point?

To help patients, doctors should consider going on strike
When doctors strike, fewer patients die - The Boston Globe
Why Doctors Are Growing Angrier By The Day in the U.S. and the U.K.

 

[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

Physicians covered until nurses got there
. When she left the floor of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), she said there were no replacement nurses to care for more than two dozen babies in the NICU, so physicians were stepping in to help.

Rhonda Mann, a hospital spokeswoman, confirmed that there was a physician in every NICU room “to make sure the transition from our nurses to the replacement nurses went smoothly” and to “provide assistance and reassurance to parents.”
Tufts nurse says she never expected to strike

There was a gap. And Physicians do not strike

Not every hospital can do that, though. That would be extremely rare in fly over cities. I also wonder how much a stunt like that cost the hospital? I'm sure paying physicians $80+/hour vs paying nurses $25/hr isn't cost efficient.....

 

[Dred Pirate]

$200k in loans will put you in such a position.

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this was 12 years ago - people didn't have those kind of loans then. I was at the higher end of most people at 110k. Plus you were getting all the OT you wanted, so if you didn't have a nest egg - you were a poor money manager. Loans were dirt cheap - my interest rate was 1.8% - my payments were $422 a month - so ya, if you wanted to stick it out they could have, but they felt their own personal needs at the time outweighed the benefits they could have gotten in the future

 

[Momus]

Not every hospital can do that, though. That would be extremely rare in fly over cities. I also wonder how much a stunt like that cost the hospital? I'm sure paying physicians $80+/hour vs paying nurses $25/hr isn't cost efficient.....

Lol if you think nurses here get only $25/hr. Try $50-65/hr minimum...

 

[Dred Pirate]

Lol if you think nurses here get only $25/hr. Try $50-65/hr minimum...

nicu nurses easily make 50 and hour - I know one that was offered 125 an hour routinely to pick up OT shifts (third shift on the weekend) - and even at that rate they had a hard time staffing.

 

[lord999]

This starts with different class backgrounds, pharmacy has historically been viewed as an owner-operator and is white collar (and regulated as one). Nursing has been blue collar and regulated as one.

On the other hand too, pharmacists actually will strike when management gets too far out of hand, and honestly for hospital management, is a much smaller line item to keep in check to prevent that and the organization should not have so many pharmacists that the management not personally know them all. Nurses both are the largest line item in personnel normally, so changes are really high impact and high stakes, but also (and this gives away some prejudices that I have), think about the sort of person who becomes a nursing manager as opposed a pharmacy manager with effect on the ranks. At the DoN level, a nurse is a statistic line item. Besides the issue that nursing manager skillsets do not overlap as well for system settings, they are dealing with a larger and more heterogeneous group of people who are impossible to keep happy at some level, where it's very likely that even the Pharmacy Director has some personal involvement in every hire and evaluation within the cycle.

But, the only personalities that are harder to work with than nursing managers are social workers that go in the management track. While social workers can be the nicest and biggest hearted people you work with, think of a darkening of that heart but yet knowing how to deal with people and deal with the system. Sometimes, I wonder if social workers at that level treat their direct reports as clients to manage analogously like they did when they were in practice with their practice.

Also, the pharmacy standards are fairly well-contained and directly on medication management. I would never want to put up with the impossible documentation and care demands that nurses assign to themselves. But yeah, I'm surprised that pharmacists in this era don't strike with the nurses. If I were a hospitalist especially in an academic setting, it's criminal how much management screws medicine over on pay issues. But professional expectations override personal self-interest, and management is counting on that to keep the peace. All others pay cash.

 

[lord999]

They also work together. I bet you couldn't get 20 rph together willing to go on strike. And there's a lot at every facility so it's visible. Imagine 2 lone pharmacists standing in front of Walgreens with picket signs.

I'll tell you that you could at one point. There's a specific pharmacist in the VA who was Old Man Daley's Cook County Director and before that, was the union organizer for IL pharmacists. It takes some egregious mistakes, angry pharmacists, and informally, Teamsters (and their friends) support, but it can happen. Life isn't so bad yet that we will unionize nowadays, but there was a time it really was that crappy to work as a pharmacist (the last straw for IL was a situation where techs made 90% of what you did). (And that guy probably could have any of us fitted for the right set of shoes and sunk to the bottom of the Chicago River if he were that pissed off. His bite was definitely worse than his bark.)

 

[PikminOC]

Covered by doing what? For how long? And what exactly is your point?

To help patients, doctors should consider going on strike
When doctors strike, fewer patients die - The Boston Globe
Why Doctors Are Growing Angrier By The Day in the U.S. and the U.K.

In the us, we dont strike.

 

[Lnsean]

They also work together. I bet you couldn't get 20 rph together willing to go on strike. And there's a lot at every facility so it's visible. Imagine 2 lone pharmacists standing in front of Walgreens with picket signs.

Exactly...you rarely have more than 2-3 pharmacists working at one store. The rphs at another store don't care about what's happening at your store.

 

[Lnsean]

Not every hospital can do that, though. That would be extremely rare in fly over cities. I also wonder how much a stunt like that cost the hospital? I'm sure paying physicians $80+/hour vs paying nurses $25/hr isn't cost efficient.....

I have nurse friends that are hitting 48-60$ hr...they're not even old

 

[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

I had no idea they made so much lol I guess they get paid pretty well for the crap they deal with

 

[PikminOC]

I had no idea they made so much lol I guess they get paid pretty well for the crap they deal with

Look at the amount of education though

 

[KoolKeith]

I work in the Sacramento area and the RNs here make around $80/hr


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[confettiflyer]

I work in the Sacramento area and the RNs here make around $80/hr


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You have to preface this particular figure with a lot of conditions.


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[confettiflyer]

I work in the Sacramento area and the RNs here make around $80/hr


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See my reply in the job market post, some interesting data points in there.