Unionization in healthcare is a critical piece to the work conditions and wages for nurses and CNAs alike. There is great value to having a union on board and readily available at the disposal of the nursing staff. This written work will describe and define exactly what a union is and does for the nursing staff. It will also discuss the positives and negatives of having a union available. Keep in mind, some managers and employees are not thrilled about having unions while others may sometimes abuse the system. Finding the right balance can help all involved to have a happy and healthy workplace environment. Keywords: unionization, value, positives & negatives
Unions in Healthcare Unions serve many purposes; some people love them and some people hate them. According to (What is a Union?, 2011), “A union is an organized group of workers who
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Charting needs to be done, doctors need to be called and the patients need so many things. The nurse and CNAs are spread way too thin and for what they do in one day is worth far more than what they typically get paid. A CNA earns roughly about $12.00 per hour and LPNs earn about $20.00 per hour. Unions come in handy for them because they negotiate wages, improve working conditions and protect the nurse from job loss if an issue occurs. Nurses deserve higher wages than the aforementioned rates and the work conditions are sometimes not very good or legal in some cases. Nurses use various chemicals to clean their work environment, prepare medications and often work short-handed when another nurse or CNA calls in sick. Bottom line is, nursing is a tough job and having a union to stand up on their behalf and fight for them, is a beneficial thing to have at their
Unions are organizations that negotiate with corporations, businesses and other organizations on behalf of union members. There are trade unions, which represent workers who do a particular type of job, and industrial unions, which represent workers in a particular industry. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a trade union, while the United Auto Workers (UAW) is an industrial union.
Unions have always been a pain in employers’ sides. From today to the 1910s, workers have tried to unionize for better conditions in their jobs. Today, people try to opt out of being in unions, avoiding the union’s dues but still reaping the rewards. That’s a long way away from what people experienced in the 1910s. During that time period, people were struggling to even be apart of a union.
Whilst it is evident that there is a decline in union membership, it is important to analyse why this is so and what the unions are doing to combat the downward trend. In attempting to tackle this issue, it is important to state the main objectives of a union that attract employees to join a membership and why the memberships are declining.
The phrase politics of nursing or even politics in nursing has so much meaning to the individual nurse. In nature politics have a dichotomy nature, and depending on who you talk to, their individual slant is unique. This makes the discussion of politics a very complicated issue. Agreement is the basis for the efforts that arise from politics, yet with every issue there are two sides who have to compromise something to get a bit of what they want. So what happens when a nurses are so busy they cannot advocate for themselves? Who will advocate for nurses when they can no longer bridge their essential needs in a health care environment? Unions are a modern option for nurses who struggle with voicing their needs and patient needs in an outdated bureaucratic twenty first century capitalist world of health care. The purpose of this paper is to look into the contributions of Unions on nurses, patient care, and the way health care facilities address issues that limit a collaborative approach to health care.
Labor Unions have been around for since the 1750’s. A union is “ a legally constituted group of individuals working together to achieve shared, job- related goals, including higher pay and shorting working hours ( Denisi Griffin 2015)”. Labor unions work with the employees to get the rights that they believe they deserve. The three laws that impacted unions was the Wagner Act of 1935, the Taft-Hartly Act, passed in 1947 and the Landrum Griffin Act of 1959. The Wagner Act was passed to help put unions “on equal footing as managers for rights of employees” (Denisi, Griffin, pg. 246). This law help to set up National Labor Relations Act and helps to administrate union laws. The Taft-Hartly Act of 1947 was passed to “limit union practices ( Denisi, Griffin, pg. 247) “and it also outlawed “closed shop (
The Health Services Union (HSU), is a well-recognised and respected union within the health and community services sector that has over 70, 000 members nation wide (The Health Serives Union) from areas such as aged care, disability care, community health, mental health, private practices and hospitals. The sole purpose of the HSU is to advance and protect wages, ensure decent working conditions and protect the rights and entitlements of its members (The Health and Services Union). Each member of the HSU is entitled to member benefits; these include, but are not limited to free legal advice, professional indemnity insurance and quality professional development and with branches in every state and territory within Australia HSU is able to ensure their members receive all adequate help in a timely matter.
Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.
The disadvantages of union membership are viewed from the employee and employer perspective. Through the employee lens, the disadvantages manifest in the form of fees, loss of autonomy, and less collaborative work environment. As part of the union, you surrender many of your individual rights in exchange for the organized results that can potentially manifest through the collective bargaining process. Therefore, there isn’t any assurance that your individual concern will even be addressed.
Unionism can be described as "a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment"(Smelser). This means that a group of workers can unite to gain more power and leverage in bargaining. The bargaining may include many aspects but usually consists of wages, benefits, terms and conditions of employment. The notion of union came about in the 1700's. In the beginning as it is today workers united to "defend the autonomy and dignity of the craftsman against the growing power of the company" (Montgomery).
Unions are voluntary associations joined by workers. The Combination Act of 1800, which hindered the growth of unions, states that every workman's goal, who are entering into any combination should not be obtaining an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours, or influencing any other to quit his work. Any workman who did so shall be committed to jail (Doc 1). Although the Combination Act of 1800 prevented the growth of unions, Ralph Chaplin believes that a worker should join the union. He states that there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, but the unions, which makes it strong (Doc 2). Since there's so many workers working in bad conditions, the labor laws came to action.
The ethical issue in this situation is the willingness of the company’s director to prevent the employees from organizing in union. Among others, the company’s director try to use unfair tactic like diversion, intimidation, manipulation, termination of job contract and threat to shut down the company leading to massive loss of job. In an ethical standpoint, these tactics are wrong.
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
Unionism is the concept that traditionally business, especially big businesses are inherently going to exploit their employees. Therefore, in order to protect themselves, the workers form organizations called unions, in which all laborers who work at a certain craft, or in a certain industry band together. By this process of “joining forces”, the unions gain power in numbers. Unions traditionally try to protect employee interests by negotiating with employers for wages and benefits, working hours, and better working conditions.
Unions traditionally were “a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the condition of their employment” (Webb & Webb, 1894, as cited in Bryson, 2011b, slide 7). Their function was to campaign for compassionate management procedures, equivalent bargaining power between employers and employees, and for fairness and democracy to be initiated into the workplace (Bryson, 2011a). Union activity at this time tended to focus on nationwide bargaining for industrial groups (Geare, 1983, as cited in Haynes, 2005), with their role seen as wage bargainers and in...