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Right to fire: Why do nurses need a union? (video)

by on Feb. 29, 2012, under Arizona, corporatists, jobs, Politics, Tucson, unions
CREDIT: loneprotestor
CAPTION: Arizona Right to Fire

Why are nurses leaving the bedside?

Here’s an explanation from loneprotestor…

Several nurses met at breakfast the other day, and we discovered we had more than our profession and activism in common. For those who had worked at Banner Health, an alarming trend emerged: Banner seems to have a policy of firing for a trifle and then reporting to the State Board of Nursing. Is this a tactic to keep nurses from fighting for their careers, their livelihoods, and their ideals?

As one member of the Arizona Board of Nursing once told me, “In a right-to-work state, you can be fired because your supervisor doesn’t like the color of your hair.”

Nurses are in short supply in the US; this gives them power. The law of supply and demand tells us that when demand is high, the price should be high. When workers are intimidated, they are less likely to fight for their rights.

Why do nurses need a union? Now you know.

Nurses need a union because it is good for your health.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012 at 5:13 am and is filed under Arizona, corporatists, jobs, Politics, Tucson, unions. Tags for this post: , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Kansan

    The Koch brothers and their stooges, the American Legislation Exchange Council and the (almost entirely Republican) legislators that belong to it, are determined to wipe unions off the face of the earth.

    Why?

    Why they give workers an incentive to express their collective interests. They aren’t knee-jerk Republican voters, counted on to reliably respond to “wedge issues” without a thought in the world.

    In other words, they are the enemy to the Kochs and their crew, and their ranks include students, minorities, those concerned about the fate of their schools and the environment.

    Nurses, since they are in high demand, possess professional qualifications, and are not as easily replaced as, say, a fast food worker pretending to be a correctional officer, have the potential to work together to influence elections in favor of their constituents.

    What could be more threatening?

    It’s, well, it’s like DEMOCRACY!  It must be stopped at all costs.

  • Kansan

    Great post, as was the Unionist Rally!

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The Tucson Progressive

Pamela Powers Hannley writes the Tucson Progressive blog on the TucsonCitizen.com and contributes articles to the Huffington Post and Salon.com. She has had more than 30 years of experience in written, visual, and electronic communication—including freelance writing, photography, graphic design, and consulting. In addition to blogging for the Citizen, she is the Managing Editor of an international medical research journal.

Hannley has authored medical research articles, print magazine and newspaper stories, and numerous cancer prevention and self-help publications.

She has been a blogger since 2006, joined the ranks of Tucson Citizen bloggers in October 2010, and started contributing to the Huffington Post in 2011 and to Salon.com in 2012.

Hannley holds a masters’ degree in public health from The University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a native of Amherst, Ohio but has lived in Tucson since 1981.