Current Events > So the nursing strike in NYC

(+) Yeah! (+)

The city hospitals involved are mass unsafe discharging, and diverting pts away from the ED and we are taking the blunt of them coming here.

fuck.

Eep.. thats not good.

Pay them more. Especially in NYC they better be making $50-60

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

Whats up with all the strikes in nyc recently

Nurses deserve better pay, health insurance, and treatment altogether. Going on strike is the only way to get management to listen.

I wish I could strike for better pay. Physicians do not have unions.

--Zero- posted...

Nurses deserve better pay, health insurance, and treatment altogether. Going on strike is the only way to get management to listen.

This. We call them heroes, but to the hospital execs thats just an excuse not to pay them what they deserve.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

MAIMONIDES REACHED A DEAL?LMAO.

I trained there. Place is crazy

lets risk lives for more money. fuck off

Stallion_Prime posted...

lets risk lives for more money. fuck off

Pay them what they deserve

pay all healthcare workers more

i worked patient care in a PCU for 5 years and if you havent done that kind of work you cant imagine how much it takes from you

Kaiganeer posted...

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

Stallion_Prime posted...

lets risk lives for more money. fuck off

unless either of you work in healthcare or are about to start working in healthcare you should both probably shut the fuck up

I cant wait for all of this to burn down

Kaiganeer posted...

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

What's more scummy is management using those same lives to guilt the nurses into risking life and limb to treat people while not receiving a reasonable rate of pay all the while management is raking in record profits.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Probably the first or second time I've ever agreed with you on something

Kaiganeer posted...

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

You know what is worse? Using lives as leverage to not pay people who have lives in their hands what they deserve. Lives are literally at risk in healthcare settings due to employers overworking and underpaying their employees.

Kaiganeer posted...

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

literally using lives as an excuse to underpay and mistreat employees

scummy

Whenever there's a strike, there's always a contingent of people who go after the strikers for being selfish or causing harm to others by walking off. Teachers are disadvantaging kids by striking, fuck them. People are dying because nurses are walking off, fuck them. I won't get my mail in time because mailmen and railroad workers are striking, fuck them.

You don't realise that this wouldn't be an issue if the health sector in NYC was run efficiently and competently. And I'm not just talking about if they had treated their nurses better to prevent them from striking - there appears to be no contingency plan, no buffer. If nurses striking leads to mass discharging like this, then the sector as a whole - the bulk of the labor, the work that not only keeps patients cared for but keeps hospitals in business - is kept running through the hard work of nurses.

If there's no contingency plan outside of those nurses doing such a good job, why are nurses being overworked and underpaid? Or, if I'm overestimating the worth of nurses - why don't they have a backup system to fall back on, even if it's less efficient than the way things are run now?

With that being said, it's obviously bad that this is happening. Sick people need to be cared for now, and that's not happening because of this strike. You can look at it one way and think of the striking nurses as heartless harpies who are putting lives at risk out of greed, or you can see it another way: whatever the nurses are striking about is extreme enough that they would take such a drastic measure.

So, what are nurses striking for? As per the following article (https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/new-york-state-nurses- seven-hospitals-strike-2023/639560/):

Nurses in New York want new contracts to ensure adequate staffing and support for staff, including improvements to stem widespread turnover and burnout, the union said in a release.

The deal reached at NewYork-Presbyterian includes terms to help recruit and retain more nurses, according to the union, though further details have not been released.

Nurses want adequate staffing and support for staff. This is on top of an ongoing pandemic that's been going for three years where they became more essential than ever, but didn't see the gratitude expressed through disembodied applause and by the media labelling them as "superheroes" manifest in better pay or better treatment by their employers.

And that's just what that article says; this Guardian article (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/03/ nurses-strike-new-york-city-hospitals) goes into more detail about improving wages in line with inflation, as well as maintaining health insurance coverage which these hospitals want to cut.

Keep in mind, those things they're arguing for would improve the standard of care for patients. And I shouldn't have to say how essential it should be to pay your employees a living wage.

Going on with the first article - because frankly, I built too much of this post on that article alone:

Nearly 99% of nurses voted in favor of authorizing the strike, according to the union.

99% of unionised nurses voted to strike for adequate staff and better support.

This strike didn't pop up overnight either. The union had to meet to discuss terms, union members had to vote, the terms had to be solidified and notice had to be given. As per the article:

Nurses delivered an official 10-day notice to the systems that they intend to strike on Friday, and contracts expired Saturday.

Meaning, hospitals knew things were about to get rough almost two weeks before the strike started. They could have set temporary conditions for nurses to work under while unions and employers negotiated terms that everyone would be happy with. They could have come to an agreement while negotiations were still ongoing, if they were amenable and committed to a resolution.

Keep in mind that hospitals are negotiating AGAINST adequate staffing and supporting their staff, but the fact remains that they had notice and they could have taken some course of action to delay the strike, keep nurses in a job and keep up the standard of care for patients.

Instead, they let the contracts lapse, and the strike began.

Now, you're hearing about all the poor sick people who aren't being treated right. You think it's sick that nurses would abandon their posts and let people die and let the sick go untreated.

The hospitals affected by this strike could have taken action weeks ago, and they DIDN'T. Where are the headlines painting them in a bad light? Where are the people calling them sick for letting their patients go untreated for not doing the bare minimum to stay operational?

This entire post happened because I couldn't find an image I'd saved that summed up people's attitudes towards striking way more succinctly. The same applies to teachers and railroad workers, people neglect their needs and then demonise them when people aren't taken care of. Consider what it takes for people to take such a drastic measures, and think about how you'd like to be treated.

By all means, let a hospital grind you into the dirt for inadequate pay, keep you working ungodly hours by failing to hire enough staff and call you a monster when you decide you've had enough.

We are now putting patients in the main hallway and surge protectors are connected to power the IV lines.

Can you imagine if we physicians went on strike like this? The amount of chaos would be insane.

These RNs have so much power, more than us in fact.

megamanfreakXD posted...

We are now putting patients in the main hallway and surge protectors are connected to power the IV lines.

Can you imagine if we physicians went on strike like this? The amount of chaos would be insane.

These RNs have so much power, more than us in fact.

Well probably because their responsibilities are much different than a physicians and a physician is paid really well. Why dont you tell us how you really feel about nurses?

--Zero- posted...

Well probably because their responsibilities are much different than a physicians and a physician is paid really well. Why dont you tell us how you really feel about nurses?

I am glad they are striking.

Nurses need to learn to strike like Japanese bus drivers: while on strike they kept driving, but didn't charge the passengers anything. Ideally, nurses would find a way to strike by still helping patients, but not billing them for services rendered. That hits the company bottom line, forces them to come to the table, and doesn't kill real people who were just unlucky enough to be in the hospital at that time.

s0nicfan posted...

Nurses need to learn to strike like Japanese bus drivers: while on strike they kept driving, but didn't charge the passengers anything. Ideally, nurses would find a way to strike by still helping patients, but not billing them for services rendered. That hits the company bottom line, forces them to come to the table, and doesn't kill real people who were just unlucky enough to be in the hospital at that time.

There is absolutely no way they can do that, since the service they provide does not for generating revenue.

s0nicfan posted...

Nurses need to learn to strike like Japanese bus drivers: while on strike they kept driving, but didn't charge the passengers anything. Ideally, nurses would find a way to strike by still helping patients, but not billing them for services rendered. That hits the company bottom line, forces them to come to the table, and doesn't kill real people who were just unlucky enough to be in the hospital at that time.

One: That's not how healthcare in America works, there is no way in the hospital system that nurses have access to that would allow them to do that. Nurses don't control the hospital's billing system.
Two: Even if they somehow could, they would likely be charged with fraud.

they should redistribute pay from doctors (except surgeons) and administrators to nurses tbqh

s0nicfan posted...

Nurses need to learn to strike like Japanese bus drivers: while on strike they kept driving, but didn't charge the passengers anything. Ideally, nurses would find a way to strike by still helping patients, but not billing them for services rendered. That hits the company bottom line, forces them to come to the table, and doesn't kill real people who were just unlucky enough to be in the hospital at that time.

this is the dumbest idea ever in human history

s0nicfan posted...

Nurses need to learn to strike like Japanese bus drivers: while on strike they kept driving, but didn't charge the passengers anything. Ideally, nurses would find a way to strike by still helping patients, but not billing them for services rendered. That hits the company bottom line, forces them to come to the table, and doesn't kill real people who were just unlucky enough to be in the hospital at that time.

Lol

The whole "Your striking is cost lives" argument is just so utterly moronic.

They are making it here in the UK for the nurses, and I bet they will for the Junior Doctors when they inevitably strike.

But you know what?

Lives are already being lost due to understaffing and dangerous conditions. We are in that situation you are crying about when not striking. It is part of why many are striking. To force something to be done about it before the entire thing crashes down.

Fuck anyone against medical professionals striking around the world. (and any job really tbh)

gunplagirl posted...

What's more scummy is management using those same lives to guilt the nurses into risking life and limb to treat people while not receiving a reasonable rate of pay all the while management is raking in record profits.

Their license is on the line too while the hospital license is nonexistent or has no punishment.

You can force nurses to stay and work or else they get charged with negligence if there's even a staffing shortage for next shift. That negligence can impact their license. But the hospital not having enough staff? What about their license or what threat do they get? Nothing. Insane.

TheMikh posted...

they should redistribute pay from doctors (except surgeons) and administrators to nurses tbqh

Want to pay for my med school loans and give back my 7 years of my life first?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/1/AAbh80AAEEOZ.jpg finally found that tweet, I was looking for screenshots in "dark mode" which is why I couldn't find this one.

Zeeak4444 posted...

unless either of you work in healthcare or are about to start working in healthcare you should both probably shut the fuck up

bro i worked as a courier during the pandemic. i got my shit pushed in just as bad. and dont tell me "it wasnt that bad" you dont even know lol. i know what its like to suffer lol. at least i didnt walk off a job and potentially fuck someones life over. fuck off

like what did those patients do to deserve this?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/6/9/AAL1VHAAEEZJ.jpg

If this trend continues, RNs and midlevels will make more than MD/DO by 2030.

I think med school was a very bad career path for everyone nowadays. I wish I went the RN route. With this type of bargaining power and low risk job? Fucking gold mine.

Stallion_Prime posted...

lets risk lives for more money. fuck off

That's the entire basis of your country's healthcare system.

Fuck me.

Nurses in America get paid around 3x as much as here in the UK it seems, and more than most of our doctors. Makes me want to strike even more tbh.

Kaiganeer posted...

literally using lives as leverage for better pay

scummy

Probably more the Hospitals using lives to justify low wages and poor working conditions.

Oh you are essential so you gotta just grin and bear it for the shareholders...I mean safety of of the public.

Lolol i wish we made that much here in Florida

When I worked at an addiction recovery center, they had to regularly close down their detox because they couldn't get nurses. They were non-profit and paid non-profit wages so nurses from temp agencies went for higher-paying jobs and they got no support from the state to attract them. They ended up having to close the detox and change it to build the size of their in-patient facility from 13 to 26 beds. Which is great for having more residents, but put more strain on the staff and left fewer good detox options :/

Solidarity forever

its never acceptable to blame a worker for the failing of the organization. literally all they have to do is pay more. thats all. if they don't do that, ll blame for patient misfortune is on the organization and specifically the higher ups who refuse to pay workers more. there are people accountable - the upper management - and if any patients die or suffer as a result of this strike, it should be the upper managements head on a platter for failing in their duty of care

TaylorHeinicke posted...

Pay them what they deserve

I thought nursing was a pretty well-paid profession already?

bluezero posted...

I thought nursing was a pretty well-paid profession already?

Depends where you live, where you work, and on wages in the area