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I really hope strikes don't happen near me but it was bound to happen after hospitals paid high prices for nurses during COVID after they fired people who wouldn't vaccinate.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Another reason, the increases in the minimum wage lately. In Seatac WA, for example, it's now $19.71 an hour for workers in the hospitality and transportation industries. In Seattle it's gone up to $18.69/hour for most workers. That compression makes the nurse salary less valuable than before, especially considering the education, certification and experience required, compared to the hotel maid or restaurant dishwasher.
Another reason, the increases in the minimum wage lately. In Seatac WA, for example, it's now $19.71 an hour for workers in the hospitality and transportation industries. In Seattle it's gone up to $18.69/hour for most workers. That compression makes the nurse salary less valuable than before, especially considering the education, certification and experience required, compared to the hotel maid or restaurant dishwasher.
That's a huge problem.
I implemented a new software communication system used by a hospital switchboard last year. Staffing has been a problem for years, but it's gotten much worse over the last several years as wages for the very bottom jobs have rocketed up.
They only paid $15/hr. for the switchboard. While it's a call center job, they are handling matters of life and death at times. You could make more than that working at Target or Aldi. The few staff they had were working lots of overtime just to ensure coverage.
There's real world implications to this too. I saw a Facebook post a couple months ago that went viral on local Facebook communities. A person was detailing how their grandmother had received bad care at the same hospital I implemented that software for. The switchboard were told to alert a certain on-call team - they notified the wrong person, who was not on-call and presumably did not get or take the call. By the time the correct people were notified, the patient died.
All this comes from a lack of experienced personnel not knowing who to call. Everyone is new.
Is it just me or is labor a lot more active than it has been in decades? We're seeing a lot of strikes around the country in a variety of sectors.
They are striking whilst the iron is hot. Literally.
It's a very favorable political climate for union actions, especially at the state level in those states that do not have "right to work" provisions. And of course, Biden is the first sitting president to appear on a picket line. He showed he's against businesses by telling striking union members that they deserve a raise. Reminds me of a divorced parent who buys lots of presents for their child hoping to gain their love.
More than one-half of union membership is clustered in just seven states: California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and New Jersey.
They are striking whilst the iron is hot. Literally.
It's a very favorable political climate for union actions, especially at the state level in those states that do not have "right to work" provisions. And of course, Biden is the first sitting president to appear on a picket line. He showed he's against businesses by telling striking union members that they deserve a raise. Reminds me of a divorced parent who buys lots of presents for their child hoping to gain their love.
More than one-half of union membership is clustered in just seven states: California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and New Jersey.
There are historical reasons that labor unions were never very active in the south. Even in labor's heyday, they never succeeded in making inroads into the states of the old Confederacy.
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