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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0tawu1 wrote

I’m a RN in an nyc ICU. Unfortunately nearly everyone I worked with during the pandemic has quit. I don’t blame them. The conditions and pay are atrocious. I have younger family members who told me they are thinking of getting their bachelors in nursing. I’ve done my best to dissuade them.

We watched as everyone stayed home and collected government paychecks while we slaved through the worst conditions without added compensation.

People banged on pots as we walked into work then treated us like lepers when in close proximity.

We watched as our friends and family took new stay at home jobs then moved to the cheaper suburbs, others negotiated pay increases to go back to the office. Our pay and work conditions remained atrocious.

We watch as the careers and savings of our friends and family with similar levels of education and certifications progress as ours dwindle.

We watched as the 2 top hospital executives each received multi million dollar bonuses and our yearly experience differential increased our pay by less than $1 an hour.

Now the executives who’s own health insurance is better, want to cut ours.

We’re sick and tired of it. It’s time to take what me made prior to the pandemic and at least increase it in proportion to inflation.

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knockatize t1_j0u3zs6 wrote

Now watch the disappearance of the state legislators that pretended to be your friends.

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LikesBallsDeep t1_j0uq0vy wrote

Unfortunately this should surprise noone. Hailing people as 'heroes' is the oldest trick in the book to make someone do something truly awful for their own self interest.

Look at these heroes going off to die at war! Or in this case, the heroes that have to go treat a deadly pandemic with a bandana for a mask.

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lazerphace t1_j0v81yo wrote

Cuomo is still out there touching women inappropriately. His brother Fredo... sleeping with the fishes probably (who cares)

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Chosen_one184 t1_j0u5fc1 wrote

Transit workers know your pain. Called us heroes too then once things started easing up we became the reason for everything wrong in the city

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Jaded_Muffin4204 t1_j0u8qnm wrote

Have you read the book Bullshit Jobs? It is about how the care economy (jobs that take care of people's needs like transit and nursing) is largely undervalued while meaningless bullshit jobs are paid well and people doing them know it is meaningless bullshit.

I'd support a transit strike as I support a nursing strike. I'm a musician, and my work in the arts is deemed both unessential and lacking in value, even though literally every human being turns to music in moments of joy, sadness, and more.

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numba1cyberwarrior t1_j0ud5ar wrote

Bullshit jobs is not based on any study or evidence at all. Its highly criticized and has a lot of flaws in its reasoning. It seems to be more like jobs that the author doesn't like.

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Jennas-Side t1_j0un0f4 wrote

Read "Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving" instead.

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Unfair t1_j0up7i6 wrote

lol I don't think they ever called us heros but yeah

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redditaccount71987 t1_j0tjv1m wrote

They've been doing major major cuts for years. The beginning of the pandemic was scary to watch when people couldn't even get masks.

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andagainandagain- t1_j0vtmu3 wrote

I worked for a public hospital in winter-spring 2021 directly with COVID patients, and we weren’t given N-95s at all, and they attempted to take away our gowns because they were low on inventory.

Meanwhile, N-95s were available for purchase online at this point (expensive but not hard to get - I had to resort to paying out of pocket for my own), and surgical masks and gowns were plentiful online. Really sick, the way these hospitals treated their employees.

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Angrychihuahuaroar t1_j0wira3 wrote

I had an N-95 because a friend who is an NP fucking stole me one from her job at a clinic. She also stole a gown for me. She shouldn’t have had to do that but I really thank her for it.

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SolitaryMarmot t1_j0uaqvz wrote

I'll totally take some shifts on the picket lines with you guys. NYC has your back.

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invertedal t1_j0w1y3f wrote

On a picket line at the Michael Quill Bus Depot, I met a mechanic who told me he had stood on picket lines during visits to Paris and London, and that it was extremely educational.

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TerpWork t1_j0uflkr wrote

my wife worked as an RN in NYC a decade ago -- she most definitely would not recommend. She's now a family practice NP in central NJ and fucking loves it, and makes way more money.

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0uhngf wrote

Many of my icu colleagues have their NP. Unfortunately there are way more NPs then NP jobs. Even if that wasn’t the case do we not deserve a livable wage?

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TerpWork t1_j0uiq37 wrote

of course you do. my point is she was treated terribly as an RN and it sucked and something should change.

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DifficultyNext7666 t1_j0u3ua0 wrote

>We watch as the careers and savings of our friends and family with similar levels of education and certifications progress as ours dwindle.

Does yours ever really increase though? I probably don't understand nursing but I thought it was a job where you can't really get promoted unlike a normal corporate job.

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0ufrij wrote

Pay increases with years of service ~$1/hr per year and with base pay increases. If it wasn’t for that, you could image a nurse who started in 1980 still making $25k/year today. If we didn’t fight, the hospitals wouldn’t give us a dime more.

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leaC30 t1_j0v4qmr wrote

I was saying the same during the pandemic. The best time to strike was during the pandemic, but at our core as health care workers, we care about the patients. We had them over the barrel during the pandemic, and some unions negotiated horribly while we had leverage.

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Badweightlifter t1_j0v4r3o wrote

> others negotiated pay increases to go back to the office.

Is this really that common? I wish that were true for my industry.

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PyroAR15 t1_j0xgrxn wrote

My wife is 1 year into her RN schooling and I been trying to convince her to go X-Ray tech route.

I feel for you guys, I was a regular at the ER (I used to do a lot of extreme sports, not good at them lol) It's a lot work and seems like a thankless job.

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j1d28d9 wrote

Respiratory therapist make almost as much with 1/4 of the work, stress, and 1/2 as much school

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jewboyfresh t1_j0xhslr wrote

And don’t forget residents.

My program hasn’t given a pay increase in the last 10 years lol

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allMightyMostHigh t1_j0uexts wrote

curious though what is the average pay for nurses? are they really getting paid unlivable wages? or just want more money because of the hours they put in? Although I do feel nurses are often overworked i cant help but feel like everyones expectations to make 6 figures as medics along with the high costs of medical school contributes to medical care being expensive

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Pool_Shark t1_j0us3m6 wrote

People like you are the reason America is so fucked right now for the average person. Being a sycophant only helps billionaires so you should stop pretending like you are better than anyone else.

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0uha7m wrote

Look up the cost of a house/condo in the city or more accurately in the suburbs since Manhattan is completely unrealistic. In order to commute to the hospital we need to live in a commutable range, then tell me what a fair wage is in this area.

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allMightyMostHigh t1_j0uiswf wrote

depends anyone with upwards of 70k a year is considered middle class for nyc and can comfortably live on their own if they rent within nyc with no significant debt or buy a house in a lcol state. the housing market is a freak of nature at this point and tying income to that just isnt feasible. So what they wanna be millionaires to buy houses in nyc?

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0ustac wrote

Your post tells me your unaware of cost of living in NYC. To put things in perspective a buttered bagel and small coffee is $7 in Brooklyn. My heating gas bill was $165 and it’s not really cold here yet. A 1 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn is $1900/month in a “bad” neighborhood, $2500 in a “safe” neighborhood and $5k in a “nice” neighborhood. Tiny 1 bedroom Condo is about $600k with $700 month maintenance fee. Forgetting fed tax, just ny state and city take 15% of what we make. Quick google search says average pay in nyc is 107k, so 6 figures is average and nurses make below average pay. Although we’re more educated than average, have harder than average jobs and more dangerous than average jobs (believe it or not nurses are hurt on the job more often than police officers) we would be happy with average pay.

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Leechie t1_j0uos7j wrote

I want to see your definition of "can live comfortably on their own" because you believe 70K is sufficient.

What next, asking them to take second jobs?

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ChornWork2 t1_j0uzudc wrote

median household income in nyc is $67k, and $34k for an individual.

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CivilInspector4 t1_j0uoibz wrote

What does 70k for a family of 4 look like?

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allMightyMostHigh t1_j0up9n1 wrote

in a preferably two income family that looking like 100k+ a year which is more than enough to survive in nyc. Hell i know people who do it on less than 40k a year. you do not need to make 6 figure to make it in the city. buying a house is another story.

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NewYorker0 t1_j0uwozp wrote

I agree. My parents ran a family of 4 with $30k at one point, we were perfectly comfortable as we rented an affordable place and lived below our means as everyone should. I also know people who also grew up with similar incomes and were doing okay. If you don’t have a balanced budget that’s on you, stop blaming others.

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SolitaryMarmot t1_j0v8f6x wrote

$40k in 1980 is $144k in 2022 dollars.

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NewYorker0 t1_j0v9epw wrote

I’m not talking about 1980, idk why you’re bringing that up. I lived with $25-30k just 4 years ago.

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SolitaryMarmot t1_j0vahsw wrote

well then that is less than 150% of poverty level and "extra low income" as per Section 8 requirements. if you are on food stamps, Medicaid and section 8 - maybe that shouldn't be the standard for "perfectly comfortable."

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Designer-Election-94 t1_j0v0z13 wrote

30k so figure you’ll bring home after taxes $1500 a month. With rent being $2000 tell me how your going to balance your budget. Tell me how you and someone else each bringing in 30k in a one bedroom are going to balance your budget. SMH

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NewYorker0 t1_j0v81w3 wrote

First of all you would bring in $2250 after tax with a $30k income, not $1500, you probably pulled that data out of your ass. Then you have to live in a affordable neighborhood, median rent doesn’t matter because half the apartments cost less than the median, then balance out other bills.

Now $30k won’t buy you a home but that’s literally the minimum wage in NYC, a double income in a minimum wage would be almost $60k, as most families are double income this isn’t much of a deal.

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regularbusiness t1_j0wexj6 wrote

They were likely getting some kind of government assistance at that income level, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, housing assistance, etc. Which is funny because you seem to have a big problem with socialism.

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NewYorker0 t1_j0wst9t wrote

Medicaid isn’t socialism and neither is universal healthcare and I don’t oppose them. The only funny thing is you don’t know the definition of capitalism and socialism and think any government program is socialism dumbass.

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SolitaryMarmot t1_j0uza1l wrote

Nurses start at about $100k in these hospitals. They can go get a job reviewing bills for an insurance company and make 30%-50% more while working from home and not blowing rotator cuffs and discs moving patients around. Which is what a lot of them are doing. Which is why nurses in hospitals have 4 ICU patients instead of 2 and patients were and are still dying due to short staffing.

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allMightyMostHigh t1_j0uzjca wrote

So would they be happy if they hired more people cut hours and paid less because the job was now less stressful?

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SolitaryMarmot t1_j0v8sad wrote

They would be happy to get same salary and health benefits as they are now with inflation and if the hospital staffed to the plan they submitted to the state Dept of Health.

No one wants a pay cut. What a stupid question.

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