The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the information I have learned in module three as well as to introduce the topic of nursing unions. Important topics to be discussed are policy and politics in nursing professional associations, organizations and unions, and nurses being advocates of change regarding issues in the workplace. I will first summarize the information I have learned throughout my readings in module three. In module three, I was able to further my knowledge on how policy and politics come into play in the nursing workforce. For example, how this effects quality and safety in our working environment as well as staffing ratios. As nurses, quality and safety in regards to patient care is our main priority. This being
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Collective bargaining is defined as the process of negotiation between employers and employees with aim of improving the workplace in someway. This being said, collective bargaining and the formation of using unions came about to help fix nursing environments, safe staffing ratios, and the elimination of mandatory overtime (Mason et al., 2014). Overall, by the strides of collective bargaining nursing have positively impacted the nursing workforce by improving nursing satisfaction as well as patient outcomes (Mason et al., …show more content…
The three largest nursing unions are National Nurses United (NNU) by representing over 150,000 registered nurses, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who represent 80,000 registered nurses, and the National Federation of Nurses (NFN) which represents 70,000 registered nurses (Mason et al., 2014). To formulate an opinion on whether nursing unions are good or bad, one most know the pros and cons associated with this topic. The various advantages of nursing unions include: worker pretention from abuses like long hours and unsafe conditions, providing workers with an opportunity to negotiate, the ability to collectively bargain for wages, and providing workers with an increased job security (Messerli, 2012). On the other hand, disadvantages of nursing unions include: higher consumer prices, less proficient workers being protected from layoffs, bias created from political powers, prevention of firing incompetent workers, and less motivation associated with pay levels since most commonly wages are increased due to seniority rather than performance (Messerli, 2012). As you can see there are both benefits and burdens associated with nursing unions. I believe that the most beneficial part of nursing unions is that they aid in creating a stable and safe work environment, which is essential to safe nursing care (Messerli, 2012). However, the biggest
Collective bargaining is defined as the process of negotiation between employers and employees with aim of improving the workplace in someway. This being said, collective bargaining and the formation of using unions came about to help fix nursing environments, safe staffing ratios, and the elimination of mandatory overtime (Mason et al., 2014). Overall, by the strides of collective bargaining nursing have positively impacted the nursing workforce by improving nursing satisfaction as well as patient outcomes (Mason et al., …show more content…
The three largest nursing unions are National Nurses United (NNU) by representing over 150,000 registered nurses, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who represent 80,000 registered nurses, and the National Federation of Nurses (NFN) which represents 70,000 registered nurses (Mason et al., 2014). To formulate an opinion on whether nursing unions are good or bad, one most know the pros and cons associated with this topic. The various advantages of nursing unions include: worker pretention from abuses like long hours and unsafe conditions, providing workers with an opportunity to negotiate, the ability to collectively bargain for wages, and providing workers with an increased job security (Messerli, 2012). On the other hand, disadvantages of nursing unions include: higher consumer prices, less proficient workers being protected from layoffs, bias created from political powers, prevention of firing incompetent workers, and less motivation associated with pay levels since most commonly wages are increased due to seniority rather than performance (Messerli, 2012). As you can see there are both benefits and burdens associated with nursing unions. I believe that the most beneficial part of nursing unions is that they aid in creating a stable and safe work environment, which is essential to safe nursing care (Messerli, 2012). However, the biggest