Characteristics of Nursing Employment Settings Without Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining, which is what is done by unions, is generally thought by most people to be beneficial, but there are some health care settings where the nurses choose not to be part of collective bargaining agreements or unions. These employment settings are generally characterized by nurses who have an affinity for their job, and who would do that job as a volunteer if they did not get paid. In other words, these nurses believe that they are doing what is right for their patients, and that is what matters to them. Sure, many of them have bills to pay and mouths to feed at home, and they understand the value of their paycheck. However, they want to be paid on the merits of what they are doing, not because a big group of people got together and said that they were being treated unfairly. Whether a nurse has unfair treatment or unfair pay must be up to that nurse, not to a collective that is bargaining for the future of that nurse and many others in...

If they are union they often must pay dues, and there are rules and regulations that they have to abide by - including going on strike if the collective bargaining agreement does not work out. This can be a serious hardship for these nurses, because the nursing profession traditionally does not pay that well in the first place. With that being a concern for these people, many of them choose to stay away from collective bargaining. The all for one and one for all mentality can forge strong bonds, but when strikes and other problems go on too long many nurses cannot pay their bills or care for their families, and they generally do not want to take that kind of risk, so they avoid unions and the bargaining agreements that they would have to adhere to. They can stand up and fight for themselves without the constraints that would otherwise be placed on them.