Economy · Health

What impact is the nurses’ strike having on you?

Eric Ringham Jun 10, 2010
12

Twin Cities nurses are staging a one-day strike today in area hospitals. Today’s Question: What impact is the nurses’ strike having on you?

Share your experience in the comments below or by clicking here.

  • Noel

    My appointment for today was canceled because of the strike. Although my appointment was just an annual check-up so at least it was not life threatening. Also, I support the nurses!!

  • Lisa

    I am a nurse, and will be on the picket line later today. I’m amused and angered at how our hospital has staffed UP for the strike. The replacement workers, who are making 6 to 8 times what a nurse does should have an easy day of it with all the extra resources that are being provided to them. Isn’t it ironic? Why aren’t we provided with the resources we need on a typical day? That’s reallly what this strike is about.

  • Brian

    How is being a nurse unlike any other critical job? If you don’t like your job, quit. People in critical positions should not be able to strike in the first place. Imagine what would happen if the fire department or police department had a strike. It is time that we did away with the mass unions and let people think for themselves.

  • Khatti

    I live outside the Metro so, by definition, the strike shouldn’t affect me at all–even if something awful happens to me today. I have one or two friends who might be on the picket lines today. I question the advisability of a strike by anyone under any circumstances, it’s been shown that neither employee or employer completely recovers finanacially from a strike. On the other hand, nothing says, “I’m really serious about this!” like arranging yourself in a picket line in front of your place of employment.

  • Steve the Cynic

    Brian wrote: “It is time that we did away with the mass unions and let people think for themselves.” But what if, thinking for themseves, the workers realize that they can get a better deal by bargaining collectively? Who are “we” (you mean the government?) to interfere and say they can’t? If health care is so critical that nurses can’t be allowed to strike, then, like fire and police protection, it should be a government service, not something we hand over to business.

  • Nate

    As a General Surgeon in an exurb of the Twin CIties, I was a little worried that the strike would affect my options when looking to transfer very ill patients or patients requiring tests/procedures that I cannot provide at my hospital. To my surprise and delight, I had no difficulty whatsoever transfering a patient this morning for an interventional radiology procedure at one of the hospitals dealing with the nursing strike. My sincere gratitude to those who prepared for this event.

  • James

    Whenever I, or my loved ones, have been in the hospital it has been the nurses who saw us as real people and advocated for our interests. I feel this is another effort on the part of business focusing primarily on the bottom line. I stand with the nurses!

  • DNA

    No direct impact. I wish for the nurses and all concerned to have access to and receive all the resources needed to be effective and excel in caring for our health and wellness.

  • Ima Walker

    It’s making me think that being outside and walking and talking may feel good to the nurses, besides making an important point. Nurses and police officers are two groups of service professionals that surprise me with their tendency to exhibit obesity. I hope that more service professionals take better care of themselves and model healthy lifestyles and habits.

    Hint: Less sugar and more veggies + 10,000 steps a day.

  • jane

    Thank You Lisa and all the nurses practicing in that profession. It is not a profession I would choose for myself but I respect your choice to strike.

    I was hospitalized in Aug 08 for 22 dazes, I observed the nurses struggling to do a good job. I wittnessed there frustrations. It also affected the quality of my life. Before I left the hospital I had a meeting with all the hospital staff that had the power to make the changes. I shamed them and told them how I felt. I hope everyone can work out their issues. Good Luck!

  • sue

    My husband had a double bypass on Monday, and the difference between nurses on Monday through today was a bit different. There was always a nurse checking on him every 15 minutes or so, today maybe every 1/2 hour, and tonight, after 7 p.m. it was he who had to call in a nurse to see her. She was very competent, no doubt, but the delay was annoying to him. I hope the nurses get what they want and need, the nurse tonight was from a state that is non union, they need one as well, I think everyone that could use the benefits of a union should have one, right down to the cleaning staff.

  • Glenn

    A note to Brian-

    Cops belong to the Teamsters Union!!

    Nurses have been deluged with more and more critical care situations over the years. Patients have more wrong with them- and the level of care is heading for more constant care. Many patients are over weight, less than ambilitory. Lifting a patient is a huge problem.

    Many nurses work “point eight” or less due to the added duties they perform… 40 hours would “burn them out!!”

    Personally, my family has decided to financially aid a nurse we know, in the event of a long strike.

    In the ’60s we called this DIRECT ACTION.