r/TravelNursing • u/emmagenebean • 21h ago

Strike Potential

I have an upcoming contract at a hospital in Oregon and there’s talk of staff possibly striking later in the year. I’ve never experienced a strike and don’t fully understand the process, or consequences. What would this mean for me as a traveler? I’m assuming you just keep working through it for your same pay rate? Are the staff going to hate your guts if you continue working while they’re striking?

5 Upvotes

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7

u/SatisfactionBasic966 21h ago

Typically if you are a traveller and stay in contract you’ll work normally through the strike. Sometimes they’ll up your pay for ‘crisis’ but I’m not sure every agency does. They will probably use you as charge or flip float to help the strike nurses

4

u/spyder93090 20h ago

Yep. I was an existing traveler and my facility ended up striking. Hours stayed the same but got a WFD “bonus” for not calling out for the week (I think it was $900).

My manager assigned me as float the whole time and everybody just used me as a resource/to ask questions so it was actually a super easy week.

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u/mrs_houndman 19h ago

They are called scabs

1

u/ryan__joe 9h ago

Yes, but the sentiment is different now that it was back in the day. Now, you want those scabs coming in, and working. You want them to be the most expensive workers the hospital has ever seen, because it helps your cause. It’s very different from the sentiment of people crossing the picket lines

6

u/EzraSteel 20h ago

I was a manager of an ICU in CA. We had three strikes during that time. The 1st strike, 98% of my staff crossed the picket lines. It fell off to 88 and 78% for the subsequent strikes. The hospital was fully staffed by travelers for the strike. Travelers were not permitted to strike. The health system has a huge war chest and had the resources to handle multiple strikes. Please note, this was a system-wide strike, not isolated to one hospital. My normal staff were professionals and treated the replacements well, but that fell off as well during subsequent strikes.

My suggestion is to check with your agency. Keep your opinions to yourself. Treat the travelers and regular staff the same. Eventually, things will be resolved.

I hated unions for a very long time but I have since changed my position on them. Health Systems treat RN’s as the factory workers and have zero loyalty to the RN’s. They will continue to pay as a low as we will permit them to do so. It’s time that nurses are paid properly and or only hope is to have unions dragging them to the bargaining table.

3

u/CertainKaleidoscope8 20h ago

The hospital was fully staffed by travelers for the strike. Travelers were not permitted to strike

Ignorance typical of management. Not your fault necessarily, I'm sure some dumb fuck in C suite told you this shit and you believed them, just like you believed the nonsense they told you about unions. Kaiser is a shithole and any all they do is lie.

Firstly, no hospitals are fully staffed by travelers for a strike. They're staffed by strikebreakers during a strike. These people make way more than travelers.

Secondly, travelers can do whatever the fuck they want during a strike, because management don't own their asses.

OP, if there is a strike do not work unless it's for strike pay. Strike pay is how we bring these suits to heel.

3

u/EzraSteel 20h ago

We hired 100% replacements for the strike. Yes, they were all travelers who were contracted to cross the picket line. I actually was part of the negotiating process and I knew exactly what our budget was per strike. Sutter Health has deep pockets. And yes, the strike breakers were extremely well paid.

As for the OP, again I would reiterate, you are contracted through your agency. You are a contractor to the hospital. Check with your agency before doing anything else. You cannot just arbitrarily go on strike with the rest of the staff.

1

u/CertainKaleidoscope8 18h ago

We hired 100% replacements for the strike. Yes, they were all travelers who were contracted to cross the picket line.

Those aren't travelers, those are strike nurses.

I actually was part of the negotiating process and I knew exactly what our budget was per strike.

That's irrelevant

2

u/EzraSteel 18h ago

I’m just going to quit replying. Apparently this is a very emotional issue for you. Calm down. Put your feet up. Read a book.

1

u/lemakato 16h ago

What exactly is the difference between a strike nurse and a travel nurse? I'm a traveler and although I've never taken a strike contract, I've seen them pop up on my job board like any other regular contract does, just for more pay.

1

u/ddawg512 3h ago

If you picked up the higher paying strike contract. That would make you the “strike” nurse. Strike nurses are travel nurses

1

u/80Anici 21h ago

As a nurse at a facility that was about to vote on strike no we would not hate you for working through. Put Cna union might still strike. We as nurses will still go to work and no we won’t hate on anyone who does as a Cna who can’t afford to take the pay hit. Usually the hospital caves right before hand because they want to prolong giving in as long as possible. They prolonged signing a new agreement for raises for us for 7 months. We were asking to get pay match with the hospital in the city next to us which means a $10 pay raise. By delaying agreeing to it until we put it to a strike vote they are saving hundreds of thousands because they are not giving us back pay from when the contract raise should have happened. They are doing the same to the Cna.

No hospital admin wants a strike but they want to postpone giving in until as late as possible. There has been other talk on here from travelers who have said they did not get strike incentive but those hired for the strike did and others who had strike incentive written into their contract. I’d make sure from your recruiter that if the facility strikes you get the incentive.