The Role Of Unions In Healthcare

The four spheres of political action in nursing as mentioned by Mason, Leavitt, and Chaffee (2011) includes the workplace or workforce, the government, the organizations, and the community. The authors further stated that although the four spheres overlap at times, the action performed in any one of these spheres can cause a reaction in any of the others. Nurses are a part of the community in which they live and can influence health and social policy within their workplace, which can have a profound impact on the organization. Furthermore, the government can pass health care policies, which in turn causes the organization to change their policy. Thus, affecting healthcare providers in the workplace and the community at large. An example of

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two things: the legislative process, and workplace issues, more specifically mandatory overtime. Once the legislative process is explained I will go into discussing the issue of mandatory overtime when it comes to registered nurses. Pros and cons of mandatory overtime will be viewed. Once that evidence is presented, I will continue to discuss my position and provide support for my stance. After I have done that, I will include a letter written to local legislators stating my position.

The rising cost of health care is a trend that is negatively influencing access to health care. According to our course textbook, Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, over 46 million Americans did not have health coverage in 2008, and 25 million American adults were underinsured (p. 124-125). For most people, this can be attributed to the high cost of premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the history of the trend of rising health care costs, the influence rising costs have on the delivery of health care, how rising costs create disparities in health care, and two ways that nurses can address inadequate access to health care.

The changes brought up labor unions in the United States over recent history has brought about a movement. This specific movement has shaped the way that employees and workers are treated in the workforce,and how they maintain their quality of life through this employment. Many people think that the labor unions’ influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In many cases this can be considered true, as there have been countless feuds between management teams and labor unions, especially in recent history. In today’s times, on the one hand, some people believe the existence of unions are a necessity in order to ensure and promote employee freedom; while on the other hand some people view labor unions as just another problem in the line of employee success.

In any organization, unions act as binding agreements between employees and management. In this case, a group of persons are responsible for conducting negotiations with the management for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of workers. Unions originate from the period of American depression when workers faced various work challenges including low remuneration, and unfavorable working conditions. The purpose of this essay is to explore the pros and cons of unions in America in the current times.

Title: Unions have played a significant role in workforce history, have they outlived their purpose.

Why the dramatic shortfall in nurses? There are at least ten influencing factors associated with this looming crisis, and

For years there has been a shortage of nurses. President Obamas new affordable care act is now in full effect and is increasing this shortage. The care act not only effects nurses, but also all heath care professionals, and the unemployment rate. The shortage will continue to escalade due to the patient demand the care acts brings, along with employers not being able to provide their employees health care. This means larger patient loads, higher unemployment, and diminished quality of care for patients. The diminished quality of care brings up the question of rather ObamaCare is worth the effort, or if it is just a contradiction.

In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA gave many Americans the opportunity to have health care coverage that previously may have not been available to them. The reform is primarily aimed at decreasing the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans. The landscape of health care is changing and nursing is evolving alongside it. This health care overhaul gives nurses a vital role in leading the reform revolution. With more than three million strong, nursing is the biggest sector of the nation’s health care labor

While the public opinion towards unions has softened in the recent years, unions still face a monumental task in trying to regain, or even maintain membership levels. In order to maintain their current proportion of the workforce, unions must organize 300,000 workers a year. In order to even begin to approach the

There are over three million nursing professional in United States and they make the largest segment of nation’s health care workforce. Nurses can play a vital role in helping to realize the objectives set forth in the 2010 affordable act, legislation that represents the broadest health care overhaul since the 1965 creation of Medicare and Medicaid program (IOM 2010). Due to the restricting barriers nurses were not able to respond effectively to the changing health care systems. In 2008, The

But unionization has not been easy. As membership has grown, so has the “bully on the street” mentality. Some associations do not want to be part of such a large organization and may feel that they will be under represented in specific issues, and not all nurses are for unionization. Many feel that unionization with suppress their opportunities to seek promotions, raises and benefits as funds are watered down to cover many professions covered in the services industry.

Over the years, continued efforts by nurses from different states and professional nursing associations focused on influencing policymakers through strikes, lobbying and policy drafts to develop and promote regulation in regards to nursing overtime and long hours shifts. Fortunately, throughout years small, successfully changes were adopted. For example, in 1938 Fair Labor Standards of Act (FLSA) was signet (Huston, 2017). Even though this act did not restrict on how much overtime one can work, instead the act obliges the payroll employer to pay every hour worked after 40 hours a week for at least one-and-a-half times (Huston, 2017). In 2005, Safe Nursing Patient Care Act was signed. This act prohibits hospital management to mandate nurses to wok more

The relationship between unions and organization is a touchy one. Dating back to the start of unionization in the 19th century, the two bodies have held opposing viewpoints. Unionization was formed from the opinion that organizations took advantage of workers and some form of a negotiating agreement was needed. There were documented events of workers working long taxing hours for insignificant pay; no healthcare coverage; dangerous working conditions; and gender and or racial discrimination. Companies believed that unionization caused less productivity which endangered profits. Companies also believed that unions interfere in daily processes, and limits the employer’s say over compensation and benefits. The

Whether a healthcare organization is supports unions or is against them, it should have a policy on unionism, and this policy should be communicated to its employees. Fried and Fottler (2015) explain that a positive labor-management relationship begins with this policy. A unionization policy will often include policies concerning wages, benefits, hours and conditions of employment, which Gamble (2011) says are the most common reasons for unionization. With clear policies and procedures regarding unionization, an employee can find the information they need regarding the most common reasons for unionization and proceed through the correct channels for change. A policy also shows that management understands that each employee is important and deserves respect and that time and thought goes into employee relations (Fried and Fottler, 2015). An employee can also see and understand the implications of unionization with a clearly outlined unionization policy (Gamble, 2011).