Can Nurses Strike or Not? Is It Illegal?

People in any job can strike but the penalties are going to be very intense when you come back to work.

For most people, this means that they will lose their jobs, but in most cases, nurses are too important to fire.

Can nurses strike?

In just about every case, it really isn’t worth it to strike.

Not only is it irresponsible to your patients, but it causes a lot of public attention towards the hospital and everyone else who wants to interact with them.

In many European countries, there are a lot of unions and benefits that the majority of nurses would need for a long-term career.

In the United States, there are obviously benefits, but they receive fewer benefits due to lower tax rates as well as the money from the benefits being much more expensive.

Of course, most of society wants more resources to go to the nurses, but that isn’t always possible or even that plausible in a lot of cases.

They can strike, but that probably means using all of your other vacation days so that you don’t get fired.

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Is it illegal for nurses to strike?

Strikes are completely legal.

It isn’t illegal for the employer to fire you if you decide to strike, but judging based on the optics, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to do so.

Strikes are a form of protest which are protected under the first amendment.

When it comes to other kinds of compensation, you may be stripped of that, especially if this happens to be a private company.

Some people form unions and they might go forward with lawsuits to demand more out of the hospital.

As to whether this is legal, much of it can depend on the state, city, and county in a lot of cases.

Generally, a lot of the laws that have to deal with hospitals are somewhat similar because nurses are going to be moving all the time.

Fortunately, this has the effect of making the workplace a more efficient place to deal with.

Going on strike should be a last resort since a lot of the demands that nurses want to be met can actually get met most of the time.

There are going to be moments where the nurses are working double overtime for their shifts, but this, unfortunately, can come with any medical profession.

See also: Why Do Nurses Work 12 Hour Shifts?

Why do nurses strike in the first place?

For nurses are compensated the least amount of money out of anyone in the hospital.

Hospitals are the source of health in just about every community, meaning, where the community is in terms of health typically correlates with the hospital.

In a lot of those cases, the nurses are doing a majority of the legwork.

Sure, doctors and other kinds of medical professionals do put in a lot of hours, but they get paid a lot more while also not seeing as many patients on average.

See also: Do Nurses Make Good Money?

Generally, without nurses, there would never be enough people to take care of all the patients.

Regardless of the opinion that people may or may not disagree with, nurses work some of the most hours out of anyone in the world.

In fact, on average, people in the US work some of the most hours in the world to make ends meet.

See also: How Many Hours Do Nurses Work?

It’s not the hospital’s fault that they have to work so hard in order to take care of patients.

That’s a reality of the job and it’s understandable why young nurses would be frustrated with how they are compensated.

At the same time, there is another truth that the supply of money is finite and not everyone at the hospital can make six-figure salaries.

How to end the nursing strike?

The obvious solution would be to just give the nurses what they want.

However, in a lot of cases, that’s easier said than done.

A lot of these benefits that the nurses are asking for cost the hospital money as well as not having as much medical staff on standby when they decide to use one of those benefits.

Generally, this isn’t going to be something that just ends in a few days.

More than anything, nurses want their message out there that they are being overworked and unfairly compensated.

Unfortunately, most working people in the United States need to eventually go to work, regardless of how bad some of the working conditions can be.

They will eventually return to work, even if the hospital doesn’t cave into their demands.

However, the secondary effect that it can have on the media and people coming into the hospital will generally do more damage to the business.

For the most part, both parties have to negotiate so they get what they need without upsetting people on the other side of the aisle and compromise.

Conclusion: Can nurses strike?

There is no telling how much difficulty that these people go through on a daily basis to do their jobs.

They all want to help people, but just getting there has been so much work for them.

Not only have they studied for years on end, but they had to train under someone else before they fully got the job.

Even after all of that, they’re starting at a relatively low salary.

The potential for a lot more money and benefits will kick in years after taking their first paycheck, but most people don’t have the patience for that.

Generally, it’s agreed upon that the starting salary and benefits should be better.

Obviously, not everyone can make a lot of money in the hospital, and some may even pay them this salary to make them work harder.

See also: Neonatal Nurse Salary

It is true that in these environments that they need hardworking people that can go for long amounts of hours.

However, there is a right and wrong way of going about it.

Everyone has breaking points and nurses will put up with a lot.

However, when a strike happens, that could potentially hurt the reputation of the hospital permanently.

If you’re a nurse going on strike, there’s no guarantee that there will be a job when you get back.

Now you should know whether can nurses strike or not.

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