Ah that old canard. Fewer than 20% of RNs are in unions. Those in unions do make more than their non-union counterparts (~$200 more per week [1]), but if you think that's why nurses tend to unionize, you're fairly far from the mark. Especially since real nurses wages haven't increased in the past 10 years.[2]
Imagine that being a programmer required a license from the state in order to practice. Now imagine that if you make a significant error, you lose that license, pretty much ensuring you could never make another dollar in salary as a programmer. Say your work consists of doing week-long projects, with a team of 4 other programmers. Your code must be released weekly and must be bug-free. Now what happens when your boss realizes he could save 40% on costs if he cuts your team from 5 to 3? Or to 2? How likely are you to release bug-free code? That's the situation for nurses.
Adding to that, nursing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country based on the number of on-the-job injuries and missed-work.[3] Most of these injuries are caused since hospital staffs are being cut, which leads to nurses having to lift, turn, and dress patients without additional help.
Furthermore, nursing care levels are directly correlated with improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays, lower mortality, and a number of other positive indicators. [4]
So you have hospital management on one side, who's incentives are to cut pay, cut hours, and cut staff (and frankly, to keep patients longer). And then you have nurses / techs / etc. on the other side, who are more likely to injure themselves, more likely to lose their licenses, and more likely to provide substandard care with those cuts. Do you honestly think unionizing is a bad idea?
IMHO, unions are obviously a counterbalance against management but the truer axiom would be that power corrupts. So just as unfettered power on 'management's side can corrupt so it can on the unions side.
You're the one showing bias here. I never said unions were bad, just that there is collusion across the system because there is so much money to be had. And I include the nurses unions in the lot just as I included every other party in the system. If you haven't noticed, nurses are doing better than most of the rest of the workers whose real wages are actually falling.
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Imagine that being a programmer required a license from the state in order to practice. Now imagine that if you make a significant error, you lose that license, pretty much ensuring you could never make another dollar in salary as a programmer. Say your work consists of doing week-long projects, with a team of 4 other programmers. Your code must be released weekly and must be bug-free. Now what happens when your boss realizes he could save 40% on costs if he cuts your team from 5 to 3? Or to 2? How likely are you to release bug-free code? That's the situation for nurses.
Adding to that, nursing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country based on the number of on-the-job injuries and missed-work.[3] Most of these injuries are caused since hospital staffs are being cut, which leads to nurses having to lift, turn, and dress patients without additional help.
Furthermore, nursing care levels are directly correlated with improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays, lower mortality, and a number of other positive indicators. [4]
So you have hospital management on one side, who's incentives are to cut pay, cut hours, and cut staff (and frankly, to keep patients longer). And then you have nurses / techs / etc. on the other side, who are more likely to injure themselves, more likely to lose their licenses, and more likely to provide substandard care with those cuts. Do you honestly think unionizing is a bad idea?
[1] Barry Hirsch and David Macpherson, “Union Membership and Earnings Data Book,” The Bureau of National Affairs. Bloomberg. 2012. [2] http://www.ananursespace.org/BlogsMain/BlogViewer/?BlogKey=c... [3] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/osh2.nr0.htm [4] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa012247
IMHO, unions are obviously a counterbalance against management but the truer axiom would be that power corrupts. So just as unfettered power on 'management's side can corrupt so it can on the unions side.
You're the one showing bias here. I never said unions were bad, just that there is collusion across the system because there is so much money to be had. And I include the nurses unions in the lot just as I included every other party in the system. If you haven't noticed, nurses are doing better than most of the rest of the workers whose real wages are actually falling.