Warren Zevon had a great song, actually he had many, but Lawyers, Guns and Money was one of the really good ones. He is very underrated as a song writer for our times.
In 1986 I graduated from nursing school while working for IBM. I worked at IBM on night shift and I went to nursing school during the day, and I slept. I had a girlfriend at the time but she really didn't need me and so she didn't require much time. IBM never had a union and for a period of about 50 years never needed one, this company never laid anyone off. This company had good benefits and stayed very competitive within the industry. They gave out stock and rewarded employees who came up with ideas that stream-lined a process or in any other way saved the company money. Then along came Apple and changes in technology that pushed this gigantic company behind in the tech race. So they laid off people and closed entire plants with very little warning. A union was needed to protect the workers, but it was too late.
So I have been a nurse on and off since 1986 and I have always said I would never be a part of a union because I would not want to go on strike and walk off the job leaving my residents/patients in the care of some paper-pushing nurse or administrator who have no idea how to care for people. Recently having been fired in Maryland (which is an "employment at will" state, which means if your boss wants to fire you and you are not a minority you will not be able to win back your job back, period) I have had to re-think my position on unions. I know there is corruption in union leadership. I am aware that humanity is fallen and that is why socialism and communism and capitalism do not actually "work". The only thing that will work is when this evil age is brought to a close and Yeshua reigns over the earth from His throne in Jerusalem. Even though, I acknowledge the corruption in union leadership, I was just watching a documentary about the coal miners strike in the 70's in Harlan County, Kentucky and it made me think. The people at the top of any organization are driven by money. Health Care is absolutely no exception. Government sets up a bunch of rules for health care facilities to get money and the facility is driven to do whatever it takes to obey those rules, to get that money. The nurses, GNA's, housekeepers and maintenance people who keep the facility going and give it a good reputation are not the most important thing, the money is. The only protection a worker is going to have is a union, and no one would ever want to be placed in a position to have to strike, but as a last resort it may be necessary. My advice to every health care worker out there is consider becoming part of a union, because if you are not you are just a number and if you interfere with the money flowing in, in any way, you will be fired.
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