Nurses on Strike

Who will take care of us when we get sick? That is the question in mind because nurses have just about had it. The California Nurses Association has been organizing nurses in Texas . Last month the Tenet's Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston accomplished a successful union vote for the first time in the history of Texas. Supposedly the CNA is headed for Dallas now.
I was wondering, why would nurses want to be a union? So, I interviewed my mom because she is a registered nurse in Texas. She expressed to me how her as well as her co-workers feel as if they are at the mercy of the hospital and they are being worked until they have nothing left. She works 12 hour shifts on the night shift and sometimes she does not even have time to take a bathroom break. When she is on her way home in the mornings it is often very challenging for her to stay awake. I work 8 hour shifts and I am tired after that, I could not imagine 12 hours straight on your feet. When a group is a union they have more control of what is going on in the workplace because they have a louder voice. Nurses in California went on strike at one time and if the hospitals do not lighten the work load there might be more. The reason hospitals make their staff work 12 hour shifts is because they do not have enough employees to schedule 8 hour shifts. I understand why people are not running through the doors of hospitals to turn in applications, it is not exactly a dream job by any means. The bad thing about wearing employees out is that they are more prone to make mistakes, serious mistakes. At the hospital that my mom is employed at they sent out a note to the staff warning them that if they were caught on the premises having anything to do with the unionization then they would be escorted off the premises.
In the article that made me choose to write my blog about this by Jason Roberson, a nurse by the name of Rossia Avery said,"money isn't the issue, it's the workload." My mom second that comment by saying, "I don't care about the money, I just want my quality of life back." I do believe it is an added bonus for an increase in payment. In California union nurses are paid 18% more than non-union nurses. I think the hospitals should give major incentives and lighten the workload for their staff. Then maybe more people will be willing to work at the hospital so they can put less work on each employee.