Whenever a strike takes place in the healthcare industry, its never a good thing. They are several reasons for nurses to strike from higher wages to better working conditions. This time its about patient safety.
If you have seen the news recently, you will have noticed that over 12,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike on June 10, 2010. This strike however was not about a pay increase but about the patients.
In simple words, even though the nurses did ask for a 3% pay increase, which according to them was used as a bargaining tool for the real demands, in a nutshell, the nurses are asking for more nurses to take care of the patients.
For the moment, talks have resumed between the nurses and the hospitals.
The striking nurses in Minnesota are doing what was bound to happen sooner or later. A hospital is expensive to run but nevertheless, its still a company that is set out to make money( not counting the state owned ones of course).
There is nothing wrong with making a profit but when it jeopardizes the care of patients, that is when a problem occurs, especially if the share owners, board of directors and upper level management are still making millions of dollars in bonuses.
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