Introduction
Over the past years, there have been reports that nurses are not receiving adequate benefits despite their stressful job demands. Nurses have tight schedules and heavy workloads and mostly work in stressful environments. A nurses’ strike is a work stoppage by nurses to secure better working conditions or pay. It is a form of labor union activity. Nurse strikes have occurred since the late 19th century and continue into the 21st century. Nurses should fight to enjoy more health benefits, increased wages, and more time offs. There are different stakeholders in nursing, including the government and the public. Undoubtedly nurses are entitled to power in their workplace, which means that they have the right to strike, but in line with the patient-centered interests regardless of the public view on the strikes, the old myth of nursing viewed as a calling government and court rules to protest against the poor working condition, inadequate health benefits, and unfair wages.
A strike is morally defensible if it is done to pursue a just cause. The nurses’ demands for improved working conditions and patient care make a nurse’s strike ethically justifiable. For example, if nurses are striking to protest unsafe working conditions or demand better pay, their actions may be morally defensible. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses states that “the nurse promotes. These principles support the nurses’ decision to strike. They are advocating for their patients and doing so in a way that respects the dignity of all involved. In some jurisdictions, nurses may not have the legal right to go on strike, and attempting to do so could result in disciplinary action. In some cases, action strikes may be due to poor working conditions, such as mandatory overtime or insufficient staffing levels (Essex & Weldon, 2022). In other cases, it may be over wages and benefits, such as a lack of cost-of-living increases or inadequate health insurance. The decision to go on strike is not easy for any nurse. They understand that this will cause disruptions in patient care. However, they feel it is necessary to bring attention to the unsafe staffing levels at their hospital.
The public views of nursing strikes as a betrayal. There are several reasons for this. First, nurses are typically viewed as caregivers who are dedicated to their patients. When nurses go on strike, it may be seen as putting their interests ahead of their patient’s needs (Quek, 2021). Second, a strike may disrupt the delivery of care and create unsafe conditions for patients. After all, if nurses are on strike, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities will have to find a way to function without them (Essex & Weldon, 2022). This could lead to longer wait times for patients or even closing down some services altogether. From the public perspective, if nurses are striking over pay or benefits, the public may perceive them as greedy and ungrateful. Finally, strikes may be seen as disruptive and costly to the healthcare system, which again could be seen as a betrayal of the nurses’ professional responsibility to provide quality care cost-effectively.
The government or courts have the right to shut down nurses’ strikes. Nurses should be allowed to go on strike without interference from the government or courts only when the strikes are done for a reasonable purpose. Such purposes include nurses having a right to negotiate for better working conditions and salaries like any other employee. Second, strikes are often used as a last resort after all other failed negotiation attempts. The government and courts have the power to regulate labor relations and strike activity to protect public health and safety. For instance, in the United States, the nurses were favored by the court’s uplifting decision to strike down key provisions of nursing banned by Trump (NNU, 2018). If a nurse’s strike is deemed to be a threat to public safety, the government may take action to shut it down.
Patient outcomes can suffer when nurses strike because fewer staff members may be available to provide care. Patient outcomes rely on various variables, including the cause of the strike, its duration, the availability of replacement staff, and the types of patients being treated. Strikes lead to longer wait times for treatment, delays in getting test results back, and an overall decrease in the quality of care. Additionally, patients may receive lower-quality care if inexperienced staff members provide care during a strike. For example, a study by Costa (2020) found that patients’ length of stay was significantly longer, and their satisfaction ratings were lower during a nurses’ strike than during non-strike periods. Another study found that mortality rates increased during a nurses’ strike at a hospital in Israel (Essex et al., 2022).
The long-held misconception that nursing is a true professional or calling it unhindered by worries about salary or working conditions is practically history. With the current nursing shortage and the increasing demand for nurses, nurses are now in a position to negotiate better pay and working conditions (Møller et al.,2021). In addition, when more baby boomers approach retirement age, there will be greater demand for healthcare services, which will strain the already overburdened nursing staff even more. In reality, unfavorable working conditions and low compensation are one of the main reasons why many nurses leave the field. A study by the Nurses’ Union found that nearly 60% of nurses surveyed had considered leaving the profession due to poor working conditions, and roughly half had left a job for these reasons (Yong, 2021). The American Nurses Association (ANA) has advocated for years for better pay and working conditions for nurses.
Nurses have an ethical obligation to strike when it is in the best interest of their patients. In a system where nurses are overworked and underpaid, patient care suffers. Striking can be an effective way to improve working conditions and patient care. According to the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses: “The nurse supports, advocates for, and works to preserve the patient’s health, safety, and rights.” (Barlow, 2020). This provision obligates nurses to advocate for their patient’s best interests, even if that means going on strike. A study by White et al., (2019) postulated that nurses who were burned out or had high levels of job dissatisfaction were more likely to make medication errors. Overall, striking can be a successful strategy for enhancing working conditions, which will enhance patient care.
Striking over pay is different from striking over working conditions like required overtime. Striking over wages generally indicates that nurses feel they are not being paid fairly for their work. Striking over operating conditions usually means that nurses are dissatisfied with some aspect of their job other than pay, such as mandatory overtime hours or unsafe staffing levels (Essex & Weldon, 2022). When nurses strike over wages, they are asking for more money for themselves. When nurses strike over working conditions, they ask for changes that will benefit all nurses and improve patient care. From a nursing perspective, it is ethically preferable for nurses to go on working conditions strikes instead of wage strikes (Catlin, 2020). This is because nurses have to provide vital services to patients, and disruptions to these services can seriously affect patient health. Moreover, while wage disputes may be resolved through negotiation, poor working conditions often require more disruptive measures, such as strikes, to bring about change.
Conclusion
Unfair treatment of nurses in the workplace has led to industrial actions, mainly strikes. In contrast, the strike option may seem wrong to the public and the patients because nurses are obliged to deliver care they should not be mistreated because this can harm them as well as the patients. It is within the rights of the nurses to protest against unjust treatment. Courts and government have the right to stop nurses’ strikes but consent to moral and ethical practices of nurses’ rules and regulations. Nurses are ethically obligated to strike when it is in their patient’s best interest. It is, therefore, undoubtedly that nurses are entitled to power in their work, meaning that they have the right to strike, but in line with patient-centered interests regardless of the public view on the strikes, the old myth of nursing viewed as calling government rules and court rules to protest against the poor working condition, inadequate health benefits, and unfair wages.
References
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