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| In Focus: Strike! Strike! Strike! |
By: HealthBond - Anne Marie Talbott, MA, MBA
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In the continuing series of stories related to the nursing crisis in the United States healthcare profession, striking and labor tactics are the topic for this week's In Focus. Recently, more and more nurses are becoming aware, and acting on the awareness, that they can strike to voice their opinions and hopefully get what they demand. But is this the answer to the nursing shortage crisis, or just another symptom?
Recent headlines make the point: nursing strikes are becoming more and more prevalent, as nurses realize they have the power to do so. Some examples:
Tentative Accord In Nurses' Strike Nyack Hospital and its striking nurses reached another tentative agreement yesterday, a union official said, raising hopes for an end to the walkout that has kept 425 workers off the job since December. May 19, 2000, Friday NYTOnline
Tentative Pact in 4-Month Nurses' Strike at Rockland County Hospital Nurses and management at Nyack Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement early yesterday that would end a four-month strike at the hospital in Rockland County. April 28, 2000, Friday NYTOnline
Nurses at North Shore To Vote on Contract Nurses who went on strike against North Shore University Hospital on Nov. 8 will vote today on the tentative contract their negotiators reached on Thursday. December 18, 1999, Saturday NYTOnline
Growing Health Care Union Prepares to Show Its Muscle By Steven Greenhouse New York's labor leaders have long had a vision of creating a single, powerful union for the city's health care workers. Until now, such a plan was dashed by fierce competition among the region's rival unions to recruit members. September 12, 1999, Sunday NYTOnline
Tentative Deal Averts Strike by Nurses By Steven Greenhouse The union representing 1,600 nurses at the Columbia Presbyterian Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital reached a tentative settlement with management yesterday, just 90 minutes before a strike was scheduled to begin. Bowing to the union's demands, ... August 10, 1999, Tuesday NYTOnline
But is this the way to achieve the goals of nursing as a labor group? Or is it counter-productive? Will nursing strikes lead to a backlash effect that hurts the profession where it matters most--the wallet, the public eye, the sense of a profession with a calling?
Are there other ways to achieve what the strikes are achieving in some cases? Are there other avenues? Part of the problem seems to be the unempowerment--the under-empowerment--of nurses in the healthcare system today. Management ignores their needs, doctors are haughty, patients demanding. Nurses are overworked and underpaid, and frustrated. And now there's the additional pair of problems--the graying of the nursing workforce and the looming shortage of qualified, competent nursing staff. Is striking going to work when all of these problems coalesce?
Striking does bring issues to the forefront very quickly and publicly. It does unite the nursing staff of a facility into one group, one front, with common goals. But within, there can be dissention and dissatisfaction. Without, there can be privation and possibly job loss. Issues are shouted about, not discussed. As a measure to bring attention to a burning crisis, strikes work well. As measures to truly solve some of the deeper problems nursing has to face today, are we sure striking is the way to go?
Empowering nursing staff isn't just a Sixties' buzz phrase. It's a real process, with goals, and objects, and quantifiable methods. Including nurses in management isn't just a quick fix; it's taking a longer perspective on the problems, and asking the people with the problems to help find solutions.
Encouraging nurses--whether they're getting older, minority members, men--to pursue higher educational degrees helps the whole nursing field. Using mentors as career guides, nurses can achieve more now than ever before. But they have to work together--possibly using striking tactics, as well as others--to achieve their goals.
Nursing associations are empowering members to look for new solutions, and to ask each other where nursing is going as a field. In today's information society, nursing is beginning to catch on to ideas like networking, and the cascading effect will change the face of nursing as we know it. The Internet is changing medicine every day, and nurses are establishing communities on the Internet as a way to network and educate. Networking and education empowers.
Striking may be the answer to bring attention to severe problems, to very short-term crises. But is it the answer for how the nursing profession needs to change to greet the 21st century?
Are we getting impatient, waiting for communities to grow, for empowerment to work, for networking and education to make their mark in the healthcare profession and most specifically in the nursing field? Are we unwilling to discuss any more, and only willing to shout?
Ask yourself--if your nursing group got together and voted to strike, would you agree? Over what issues? Is it the best way to obtain your objectives? Does management listen to anything else? How can you guide management towards better communication? Do you have some type of positive relationship with management at your healthcare facility, or are the lines already drawn?
How can you empower each other, as nurses, without having to strike? By learning--by attaining management skills--by listening to and accepting each other as nurses and proto-managers. By being unafraid to take risks, to try different solutions to problems until you and your team find the one that suits your needs best. By being willing to work as a team, and willing to work with management. By pursuing further degrees, by learning new skills, by developing on-line communities with nurses across the country and around the globe.
Think about some quantifiable, objective things--little things--that you can do in your job as a nurse that will empower other nurses, that will make life a little easier for everyone involved. Think about learning more about management, and looking at the place where management and nursing join hands. How can you contribute to that growth?
This isn't about the "management cure of the week", when everyone gets fired up about some new, trendy "fix-it" program. With those, lots of work is created, we all run around for a week or so, all fired up, and then, somehow, nothing really changes. What we're talking about here is changing the way you think about fundamental things, about how management and nurses interact and communicate. This is about the way you define your work, and feel satisfied or rewarded by it. This isn't a trend, it's a revitalization.
You're tired, overworked, and probably frustrated, but that's part of the problem. Look beyond it. You're in a dynamic, growing profession. Think beyond the boundaries you see every day, and focus on solving the problems. They are solvable, and you have the power. You just have to believe it.
Discussion
June 2000 - In Focus: Nursing Shortage Previous Articles
June 19-23, 2000, Supply and Demand, the RN Workforce of the Future
June 12-16, 2000, What Do the Numbers Say?
June 5-9, 2000, Nursing Shortage: Mirage or Menace?
Anne Marie Talbott - atalbott@healthbond.com |
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Member Opinions:
By: ltcnurse on 6/28/00
When a nurse recieves her degree and graduates from nursing school she recites the oath to care for those in need; the idea of striking one day and abandoning patients is never mentioned. If one works in a factory making widgets day in and day out and becomes bored of this or has problems with management,may feel the need to strike, but one who has taken and recited the oath to care for the sick and afflicted has got to have more sense than to try to strike.
By: tammy on 6/29/00
This article can pump one up to feel as if they could change their environment. I think we will probably see more striking as time moves on. Due to the lack of coming together as a group within our own organizations, this provides a quick jolt to the system. Do I agree, NO. I think striking is the poorest way to communicate ones needs in the healthcare system. Basically it becomes a war with staff and management and the patients are the ones who are caught in the middle.
By: annemarie on 6/29/00
Yes! Patients have a stake in this process, too. The latest HealthBond In Focus article will discuss these issues, and more! Great comments. Thank you.
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