Diatribune - worker rights - Comments

I totally agree that we need

kerry — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:18:13 -0600

I totally agree that we need strong unions because the government is partnering with industry to either ship jobs overseas or import cheap foreign labor. Our government has completely abandoned the working class.

There was a time when a

iconoclast — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:12:25 -0600

There was a time when a "temp" employee was just that, someone to fill in temporarily while a permanent employee was out sick. Now "temp" means full-time permanent no benefits with a temporary lay-off once a year then re-hire. This would not be happening if we had strong unions and a real government. I am really surprised there is not more anger about this around the country.

Yes, this is a major issue

Robert Oak — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:15:52 -0700

Yes, this is a major issue with nurses. I'm hoping the unions really come out on this. I've heard that they also will not expand US nursing schools either and give opportunity to Americans. Seems we are insourcing cheap labor and outsourcing education and training on top of it.

I hope you write more about the situation with the nursing profession.

Nurses are a good example of

Catzoned — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:55:14 -0700

Nurses are a good example of guest workers being imported. I started Nursing in 1977 and there has always been a shortage. Now, there was certainly no shortage of nurses then – there was a money issue though. They wanted to work on the cheap. Hospital management did not want to pay to adequately staff the hospitals floors. They wanted to buy pictures for the walls and fresh paint. They could have hired more help. They could have used a nurse from the temp agency. The fact is – they didn’t want to pay the wages and benefits for nurses. Which, by the way, is shockingly low in contrast to the responsibility they carry. So the nurses retrained (me being one of them) rather than feel guilty for failing my 13 patients day in and day out. Overtime was mandatory and no union could bust through that part of negotiations. And that’s another thing, nurses started joining unions and they didn’t want to deal with that.

Now the nurses are gone and they have to import them. They bring in people with accents so thick you can’t understand them. They have no concept of American culture either. But they will work cheaply. Your lives are now in the hands of still bad management and people who were trained on other countries. It’s about money, folks. Your hospital still doesn’t care about you when you or your loved one is the sickest. It’s about the profit margin.

Excellent and important piece.

epppie — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:52:04 -0600

Everything good in the world takes patience.

Really

Robert Oak — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:47:31 -0600

PA has been decimated by offshore outsourcing, bad trade agreements and union busting. He needs to support the people of his state, period by cosponsoring this bill!

Financial disclosures. . .

Betsy L. Angert — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:41:17 -0600

Yours, mine, and ours.