Nursing and Unions - Essay Example

Lately, the notion that nurses should unionize has received great advocacy. The topic has led to heated debate and as a sign of government support for it, there are provisions in the various bills in Congress that will be of importance in accomplishing forced unionization of the healthcare sector. Unions have a significant impact on the work lives and compensation of its members as well as nonmembers. It is notable that unions raise the earnings of their members, by approximately 20%, and compensation by about 28% (Foster, 2000).  

Fringe benefits are the most attractive advantage for unionized workers get over non-unionized workers. These include paid leave, higher chances of getting employer-provided health insurance, and pension plans. Despite these attractive benefits, a thorough consideration of the cons associated with unionization is a substantial reason why all nurses should reject the call to unionize.

Section 225(A) of the present ObamaCare (H.R. 3200) version gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services power to regulate healthcare workers. This authority is provided under the option of public health insurance. Under this, compulsory union dues and monopoly bargaining may become a required standard leading to forced unionization of hundreds of thousands of nurses and doctors nationwide. Marquis and Huston state that (2008). This is one way sure way of forcing nurses to sell their freedoms to unions yet not all nurses want to sell their freedoms to unions.

Marquis and Huston (2000) state that although unionization is the best way to achieve a national voice, it has the potential to produce contention among nurses. This is because there is a significant level of direct competition and contention among the nurses. Each one has a separate agenda as well. According to Marquis and Huston (2008), there is a great need for nurses in every healthcare setting to identify with management’s viewpoint. However, unionization increases the chances of them siding against this. This freedom is increased by the fact that unions claim protection for their members against spying, interrogation, and threats. Such a situation impacts directly on patient-service delivery. This is related to the fact that some of them may tend to misuse the protection and power given to them by the nursing unions.

Unions are a means of collective bargaining power and unified voicing. Despite the potential benefits of this, unions increase fear of income associated with walkout or strike Marquis and Huston, 2000). Unionization also increases the fear of employer reprisal among nurses. There is a need to promote social status and demonstrate individualism. This is only achieved under a system of free enterprise. However, unionization opposes these ideas and achievements. This is to say that unionization interferes with the ability of nurses to demonstrate that they can get ahead as professionals on their own merits. Unionization is also a burden in the nursing organization because it is an additional layer of management.

Conclusion

Unionization has its true and attractive benefits and this has been witnessed among those who have joined them. However, there is a need to take care of the autonomy of the nurses by protecting them from forced unionization. This will enable the nurses to demonstrate their power to successfully go ahead as professionals without the support of unions. Unionization of nurses not only threatens those nurses who are anti-unionism but also the whole organization as seen in workers who misuse protection offered to them by the union.