<p>I suppose if management always behaved beyond reproach, without nepotism and never firing anyone without cause or docking their pay . And always supplied safe working conditions to all, with generous wages, then there would be less impetus to band together with workers of similar positions to obtain a more egalitarian workplace.</p>
<p>As long as shareholders are more concerned about profit than people, there will be a need for unions.
You can tie the birth of unions to the rise of the middle class and the loss of unions to its decline.</p>
<p>IIRC, the “Baylor Plan” referred to nurses who were hired to work weekends only at close to full time pay. They would work two twelves, always on the weekends, and were paid for 32-40 hours and were considered full time in terms of benefits. The rest of us would work three twelves for those full time benefits and were not paid time and a half. Baylor plan staff would get one weekend off every two months, but otherwise were expected to work every weekend regardless of holidays or any other consideration. This plan was very highly regarded by nurses. Weekday nurses knew they’d have their weekends off, and the Baylor plan nurses had their obvious advantages.</p>
<p>My hospital quit doing this when I was pretty new to nursing, much to my chagrin, as it meant that I had to work my share of weekends.</p>
<p>My mistake - three 12 hour shifts. So, 36 hours a week. This used to be considered full time but the hosp was recently bought out and the new owners consider this part time. </p>
<p>D’s previous employers also defined anything less than 40 as part time as well.
Since only full time employees recieved benefits, it was pretty handy as they determined her schedule.
I’ve been scheduled for 10 hr days, 4 x a week, ( which actually stretched over, but you weren’t paid for overtime).
It was exhausting. ( as a hairdresser, mostly standing in place).
Doing restoration work, I often had 10-12 hr days, but as it was moving around, it wasnt half as tiring + fresh air!</p>
<p>I was just chatting with a new grad today. She works for Davita, a dialysis company. She makes $27.00/hour. She snagged the job through a friend. Most of her classmates are still looking for employment. BSNs at YNHH make $27.50/hour. The rates were much higher in the past with the nursing shortage. Again, the shortage is long gone. They can now pay what they want. As a nurse, you are on your feet all day. Bathroom breaks are a luxury. Let’s not discuss taking lunch breaks. The paper work is monumental. </p>
<p>As far as the baylors, I find that hospitals don’t want to hire nurses f/t. Why? So they can avoid paying for the health insurance and all of the other benefits the f/t employees get. </p>
<p>And no, baylors don’t pay time and a half. Not in this area. Maybe in the olden days but why would they have to now? Why would they pay time and a half when they don’t have to? Nurses are desperate for jobs. Again, they can pay what they want.,</p>
<p>Yes, doctors can be pretty unpleasant at times. But I find that the APRNs/NPs are the nastiest of them all. </p>
<p>Well, that’s my point – employees don’t form unions unless they are dissatisfied with something. The stuff you list above are certainly reasons that cause employees to be dissatisfied enough to form unions, at least if there are not sufficient other employers with better conditions to seek work at.</p>
<p>What sort of employers are so altruistic that their workers never get together on a common good?
Costco pays very well for the industry, but an average of $21 an hour is still low to try to make ends meet in some areas.
Like Seattle.
It seems that the ability to join a union would be a benefit for workers.
That’s how weekends came into being, after all.
<a href=“Unions: America's Hidden History”>http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/02/1326682/-Unions-America-s-Hidden-History</a>
<p>The ability to form a union does not necessarily mean that every employee will necessarily want to join one. Levels of dissatisfaction need to be high enough, and the possibility of finding alternative employment that is better low enough, for employees to want to form unions. Isn’t that obvious? Of course, in the case of nurses, that threshold has been passed in many cases.</p>
<p>I guess California is the place to be for nursing. Our local hospital says that their wages are $47-$63/hour or $97000 - $131,000. I thought maybe this was mid-career but I talked to my neighbor whose daughter just graduated from Cal State LA nursing program is making $49/hr right out of school. </p>
<p>I got a job in a city hospital right after graduating from college. I worked 1st and 3rd shifts. Hated the swing shifts. On weekend 3rd shifts I was the only RN on a 20+ bed floor of patients who were going or returning from surgeries and I was less than one year out of college! It was bad. I can remember calling DH in tears because I was so stressed/scared. So after a couple of years of that I was thrilled to find out I was pregnant and gave up nursing to be a fulltime Mom. I don’t remember how much I made. Prob. around $10/hr. </p>
<p>It was not the right choice for me. Wished I had majored in something else. My Mom was a young widow and advocated being a nurse or a teacher so that I could always take care of myself. </p>
<p>My mistake - three 12 hour shifts. So, 36 hours a week. This used to be considered full time but the hosp was recently bought out and the new owners consider this part time.>>>>>>>>>></p>
<p>That’s unfortunate. At least our hosp. counts 72 hrs every two weeks as full time w/ full time benefits.</p>
<p>The one really good thing about nursing is that there are tons of opportunities once a nurse has obtained experience. Examples: infection control nurse, nursing education, employee health, occupational health, home health, school nurse, flight nurse, adherence to standards department (can’t think of the word, but would make sure the hosp. is crossing all t’s and dotting all i’s as there are dozens of standards to be met), not to mention the various kinds of nursing …labor and delivery, neonatal intensive care, post surgicals, pediatric intensive care, oncology, pediatric oncology, OR, recovery room, pre-op teaching and screening, neurological intensive care, trauma, orthopedic etc.</p>
<p>$49/hr right out of school? That’s what new grads should be making. Making $27/hr coupled with the work load and the huge amount of responsibility is not worth it. New nurses should consider moving to CA. </p>
<p>I work with a young woman who is a LAC grad/CNA. We met post graduation and she had always wanted to go on to med school. She was tired of school and decided to go the easier route and apply to NP school. YSN was one of her choices & was accepted. Her first year of the program is spent obtaining the RN portion of the degree. As a new RN she amazed at the sheer volume of work, stress and mind bruising responsibility. The differences in being a CNA and being an actual nurse are vast. Yes, she doubled her pay but can’t wait to rid herself of the day to day trivial responsibilities of being an RN. She will graduate from the YSN in May of 2016. </p>
<p>She confided that she should have gone to med school. </p>
<p>NewHaven- Gonna be scary for your friend to have to do advanced practice nursing without basic nursing experience under her belt. It is, IMO, a disservice to those second degree nurses to get them a Master’s without nursing experience. They just won’t have the clinical judgement critical thinking skills they need.</p>
<p>ETA- If she is working now and in school, these 18 part-time months just aren’t enough.</p>
<p>She is doing the Yale School of Nursing program. You are right, being a new, part time RN and full time student is tough. But this program has been around for a long time. Do you think it’s that tough a transition? </p>
<p>I do, NHCTmom, and I have seen some of the impact on those that hire the NPs. They take a really long time to become clinically adept. They are learning basic clinical judgement skills while trying to hone the specifics of their specialty/practice area. Traditionally, advanced practice RNs had prior practice.</p>
<p>ETA - but these 2nd degree programs are a boon to the schools of nursing for some reason.</p>
<p>Well, unless things have changed drastically, the COL in Los Angeles is much higher than the DFW area. So don’t everyone go running to LA to get rich!</p>
