Nurses and Entitlement

I try very hard never to go into work early. It is hard for me because I tend to be organized and punctual. I also try not to be late. Not to please the boss but because my co-workers rely on me to be on time. So the odd time I end up on my hospital unit early there are good natured comments-like what happened to you Wendy-did you lose your watch? My response is always no matter who is in the room, is something like " I will never give my employer a minute of my time that they are not prepared to pay me for." Again good naturedly someone always says ironically "now why am I not surprised to hear that from you Wendy."
The first round of lay-off for nurses were announced, a response of course to the economic crisis and the bailout of the banks on the backs of the workers and in this case health care. My Local president asked me as a steward to distribute the notices at my site. I told her I would not do her dirty work and asked her why as a a Local we were not going to organize an opposition to these lay-offs. Her answer "we can't",
After a heated "discussion" she, playing up her activist cover , said she agreed with me and her words of wisdom were that she would rather see unpaid "furlough days than lay-offs." At this point seeing red but trying hard not to slam down the phone , I asked why she would want to see either, and I realized that she was not consciously selling out but simply had never entertained an alternative-such as mobilizing the membership to at least show a force of opposition. Of course she pulled the member blaming stunt and place responsibility for no opposition on the apathy of the membership.
So what do these 2 interactions have in common? A deep mass psychology on the part of workers and our leadership, an internalized lack of a sense of entitlement.
When we talk about the consciousness of workers, this word always sticks in my brain. I have no truck with the trade union leadership except to actively expose them among workers. But despite my frustration with my co-workers sometime I think if I can do nothing else I can raise their sense of ENTITLEMENT as individuals and as a class.
This is hard to do anywhere, but especially hard among nurses, social workers and front line health care providers. Everyone is entitled except us.
The rich are entitled. The boss is entitled and even the MDs are entitled and don't they know it when their salaries and privileges are attacked. The banks are entitled to foreclose on our homes and the governments are entitled to slash our education and health care,our jobs and our pensions. But rarely do I hear proud strong sense of entitlement among workers in those words.
Last round of bargaining I heard some workers say they would rather have better benefits than a pay hike. When I pointed out to him that benefits were money and that we should be saying clearly that we are entitled as workers to both better benefits and a substantial hourly wage increase - his response was that there is no money in the system for both.
Standard response - but when I came back with clear evidence that there was plenty of money in the system for the bankers and for the war in Afghanistan and for the rich -but no money for us and our patients-he could not respond except to agree.
So daily I walk around my workplace and as frustrated as I get, sometimes it boils down to simply raising a sense of entitlement - pointing out the contadictions and the lies -and raisng an alternative way of seeing the world and workers place in it.
Useful as well to make a few predictions , as simple sometimes as predicting that there will be another round of layoffs and break through the denial that comforts them and at the same time keeps them from feeling correctly ENTITLED to demand what we deserve.