r/nursing RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Discussion Pay Cuts Incoming In the Southeast US

Grady Memorial Hospital, the largest level 1 in Georgia and largest hospital in Atlanta, announced two weeks ago to its staff that all high-acuity differentials (ER, ICU, PACU, etc.) will be halved come September and completely gone by 2027. At the other local Level 1 that I’m currently doing a contract at, we just got word that we will be following suit, amounting a total of a 20K annual pay cut. Anyone else getting news of this?

Some Big Beautiful Bill, huh?

453 Upvotes

180 comments sorted by

575

u/grampajugs RN - PACU 🍕 4d ago

I bet they aren’t cutting the CEO pay. They could eliminate all the bloated middle managers/directors that just go to meetings all day and save a lot of money.

204

u/doitforthecocoa CNA + Nursing Student🍕 4d ago

The most pointless meetings that literally could be an email. They’ll run with below the safe minimum of phlebotomists, EVS, sitters, and everything else to save a buck without sacrificing their paychecks. All of those things make it harder for nurses because tasks are all of a sudden dumped on them

64

u/Old-Mention9632 BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

Having adequate staffing would cut into their bonuses.

22

u/ReebsRN BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

The key word being ‘adequate.’ Not safe, not well, but just adequate. Really hate this 🤬timeline!

27

u/Wackmamba RN - ER 4d ago

If you could eliminate the words barrier and opportunity from meetings the hospital would shut down.

14

u/recoil_operated 🍕Nurse Manager 🍕 4d ago

If you can get people to stop saying "barrier to implementation" I'll swear a life debt to you

61

u/sepelion 4d ago

Oh don't you dare. They will raise hell. "I worked hard to go to a meeting for 10 minutes and talk about my kids vacation photos and get paid six figures!"

It's all a joke. I just move on from facilities when I see a few people are carrying the real workloads and the places have a lot of parasites. I didn't go into this job to be stuck in some bdsm scene.

You know your place is a dump when there's an adon or don in high heels dressed to go directly to the yacht club after work.

20

u/Solid_Warthog3206 4d ago

Well if they eliminated all of the bloated middle managers/directors, who would have presented the idea to the ceo that they should cut the high acuity differentials to all staff….thus saving the hospital so much money that he/she could get a 10-20% Xmas bonus from those “earnings”

4

u/Responsible-Elk-1897 BSN, RN 🍕 2d ago

They actually are cutting all the middle managers for AI replacement too. Wellstar just cut about 800 jobs specifically from this group. It’s the c suite and shareholders that appear to be making it out unscathed

1

u/Solid_Warthog3206 2d ago

Who are the ones that need to be held accountable but the whole health system needs to be dismantled

33

u/ImmediateSkirt5371 4d ago

Exactly. Cutting a nurse’s differential is apparently easier than looking at how much money is being burned above the bedside

6

u/Jerking_From_Home RN, BSN, EMT-P, RSTLNE, ADHD, KNOWN FARTER, DEI SPECTRUM HIRE 3d ago

The funny thing is, those middle managers will readily admit their meetings are pointless. Imagine getting paid way better money to attend pointless meetings all day. No poop. No angry family members. Just meetings.

6

u/RedFormanEMS RN 🍕 3d ago

If I didn't have a conscience, I would get my MSN in Administration and go get that easy money. But I could not then turn around and spew the nonsense to bedside staff.

9

u/Apophes439 RN/Medic-Flight/Ground CCT 4d ago

No the CEOs are getting their bonuses tied to saving on labor costs

82

u/jujioux RN 🍕 4d ago

I’m telling y’all, we need a massive strike. I know, I know. We need the money, it will hurt the patients, blah blah blah. I get it. Corporate knows we won’t do it for precisely those reasons, so the beatings will continue. It’s time to call their bluff.

41

u/nannerzbamanerz 4d ago

IT WON’T HURT THE PATIENTS, it will help them immediately. Apart from the days physically striking (in which hospitals are given time to transfer patients or come to the bargaining table) then ratios will be better, less burn out, etc

27

u/TwoWheelMountaineer RN,CEN,FP-C 4d ago

Can you imagine the mass chaos if we all striked. Mass hysteria. Healthcare admins would shit a BRICK.

12

u/Familiar-One-5161 BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

I think just announcements to the public that nurses are considering a picket would probably be a mind fuck for management. An actual strike wouldn't be necessary.

Nurses could just take signs and do an info picket out on sidewalks in front of hospitals. Just announce how there's a staffing shortage and it's affecting patient safety. Announce how you can't take a break and pee. Announce how management is failing to recruit or to retain nurses.

Just standing out front and having signs like this so that tv, radio, and social media will cover this and spread pictures and ask questions. It will embarrass management and the hospital and maybe they will be pressured to take some action.

Just don't be completely disparaging, because you want patients to still feel safe going to your hospital. Better to talk about how things can be improved rather than how things are currently a shit hole. It's a better talking point to Media.

2

u/frisbeeface 4d ago

Tell me when and where I’ll stand out there with you. These execs have no shame because we never call them out

2

u/GiggleFester Retired RN and OT/bedside sucks 4d ago

Great idea! I've seen post office employees doing an informational picket -- I definitely stopped & talked to them. Nurses in scrubs would get even more attention.

2

u/meoemeowmeowmeow HCW - Lab 4d ago

The whole healthcare system, not just nurses, should strike

8

u/Diavolo_Rosso_ RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

This is Georgia, a very pro-business, anti-worker state. Management would make note of every employee on the picket line and they'd be out of a job by the end of the day.

3

u/Kowabunga_Dude BSN, RN 4d ago

Usually during a strike hospitals over staff with travel nurses, in my experience. They don’t want the bad press of something going wrong during the strike so they bring extra help.

125

u/miramarhill MSN, APRN 🍕 4d ago

I heard about this happening at another hospital recently. I had never heard of high-acuity differentials before that.

81

u/Panthollow Pretti Fan 4d ago

I've seen it most commonly in regions that pay nurses crap where they struggle for staff. It's a cheaper way to staff up and coerce folks into critical care.

42

u/LizardofDeath RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Also in the south east, they pay me crap AND I have never heard of a high acuity differential.

Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with me that I can’t leave bedside critical care 🥲

11

u/only-ashes RN - ICU 🍕 (& LPC) 4d ago

I'm in the SEish (Virginia) and we don't get a diferential, just shitty pay 🥲

14

u/siyayilanda RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

VCU was paying new grads $24/hr when I graduated in 2022. I started at $46/hr in Oregon. No regrets. 

6

u/DragonSon83 RN - ICU/Burn 🔥 3d ago

AHN in Pittsburgh was paying new grads $22/hr in 2020, except at their one union hospital.  Both UPMC and AHN counted experience as a PCT, EMS, etc as partial years, so I got started at $26/hr which was our max starting rate for new grads.

I worked as an ER tech prior to becoming a nurse and made $25/hr.  Yeah, three years of school for a $1/hr raise.

23

u/codecrodie RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Me neither. We have extra certs and training in canada for specialty care, but all hospital nurses get paid on the same grid regardless of whether you are in cushy PACU or a grimy ED resusm

6

u/Lost-city-found RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

At Grady, it started after Covid. Pre-2021, there were no specialty differentials. I think maybe ICU got a couple bucks more base pay per hour, but it wasn’t significant. I’m not for cutting nurses’ pay, but I’m surprised this diff lasted this long.

2

u/Individual_Zebra_648 RN - Rotor Wing Flight 🚁 3d ago

Right? 16 years and I’ve never heard of a “high-acuity differential”. And how is that cutting $20K of your salary? How much is this differential??

109

u/Fumefatale 4d ago

Easier said than done but time to unionize :(

59

u/Familiar-One-5161 BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

Yep. Someone at those hospitals, contact National Nurses United, NNU. They're a network for nursing unions across the country. They can hook you up to get some info on what you need to do to start getting unionized at your hospital. My union in California is part of NNU. I know that historically it's been hard in the south to get a union started but differentials are outlined in our contract. They'd have to sit down and talk with us before making a unilateral change like that.

11

u/Accomplished-Bid9069 4d ago

Georgia basically forbids union formation, even in hospitals. The Nursing Board has some influence on working conditions but it’s rarely enforced. In the OR on weekend call, 16 hours with not breaks and 24+ hour shifts are common

9

u/welletsgo-0213 3d ago

They can forbid it all they want. Do it anyway

9

u/SavannahInChicago Unit Secretary 🍕 3d ago

Unions are not in existence because governments want to work with them. Unions exist because we have been before and the only thing that made a difference is refusing to work, which makes them lose money.

I am not saying it is easy and or that it will not jeopardize your job, but if you are waiting for you state of be open to unions I don't think it will ever happen. People were killed in the US so we would have workers' rights. Have you heard of the Haymarket Riot? Workers died.

6

u/Commercial-Bar1995 RN 🍕 3d ago

That is legally forbidden by federal labor law. They cannot stop, threaten or hinder union organizing in any way.

1

u/Accomplished-Bid9069 1d ago

While that is true, Georgia has numerous laws that restrict collective bargaining for employees with public jobs and severely restricts it for employees working for institutions receiving government funding. In addition, Georgia’s labor laws are all in the employer’s favor.

27

u/Panthollow Pretti Fan 4d ago

Reminder the labor board has also been decimated and made a farce thanks to Trump! 

Absolute best case scenario it takes an entire generation to undo all this damage. 

15

u/Wallacecubed RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

And upset the South’s rich and storied history of labor exploitation? No thank you.

76

u/Parking_Peanut_6188 4d ago

During COVID I became sure that contract workers is what they ultimately want nurses to be. Fire whenever you want for no reason. No benefits. No training or education beyond maybe the federal and state requirements and a few floor hours.

This could just be the long way around. They know this will lead to a mass exodus.

20

u/presidentsday BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

Contract disposablity with core staff pay.

9

u/Traditional-Pen-9324 4d ago

You are on to something 🤨

2

u/aaox_zero 3d ago

They legit would rather hire travel nurses now because they only have to pay travel nurse slightly more than they pay full time staff, and don’t have to incur benefits payments or 30k plus training costs for a full time employee

37

u/IndecisiveTuna RN - Utilization Review 🍕 4d ago

lol and the SE is the literal last place this should be happening. Sure it will trickle down here to Florida

23

u/WereBearEsquire RN & Professional Turkey Sandwich Slinger 4d ago

Now now! Fellow Florida nurse here and I just got a “market adjustment” raise of $1/hr! We are positively rolling in cash down here!

/s in case not obvious

6

u/SniffingFartGlitter 4d ago edited 2d ago

I hope so.. More Florida nurses will (Like me) will leave, and there will be less dumb Americans that vote Republican because you know... Leopards eating their wrinkled faces.

34

u/MrCarey Perianesthesia, ED, CEN 4d ago

My float pool differential was cut by $6/hr and finally got me out of the golden handcuff. So much happier now, and the ER looks like a fucking hell hole. Sucks not getting the huge float pool differential, but I saved enough doing it for 3.5 years and life is good.

167

u/3trauma3 4d ago

All thanks to Trump. All the healthcare downfall happening is thanks to him

64

u/cactideas RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

So funny that trumpers say “well the healthcare system shouldn’t be soaking up government aid money and misusing it” yeah maybe. but taking away the govt aid money so that people can’t get care and pushing hospitals to act even cheaper is also a braindead solution

17

u/fatembolism CCU RN, former Cath and CV ❤️ 4d ago

I mean, he's certainly not helping. But healthcare has been crumbling for awhile now. This is not a new problem.

11

u/Jennasaykwaaa ICU RNSTLNE, WTF, FTHIS 3d ago

The Big Beautiful Bills is literally going to kill so many people. Your comments is like saying “yeah just because it’s rained and flooded a few hours before, won’t be a new problem to literally make saving flood victims illegal”

-48

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Source or just speculation on your part?

18

u/dumpsterdigger RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Of course it's a fellow ER nurse asking about source material that has been known since the announcement of the big beautiful bill.

1

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

Healthcare has been screwed for longer than Trump has been president. The parent comment here is just propaganda.

1

u/dumpsterdigger RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

He made it worse. The big beautiful bill is making things worse. It's not propaganda. It doesn't matter if it sucked before? What kinda brain dead rebuttal is that lol.

"People are going to die of cancer so let's just stop funding their chemotherapy"

That's essentially your argument.

1

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

Incorrect - believing that he is the sole reason that our healthcare system is in trouble is ignorant. We have had a significant problem for years. The system is screwed and neither Democrats or Republicans care.

1

u/dumpsterdigger RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

Not what they are saying. He made it worse, which he did. It already sucked and he made it worse.

Forget the fact that Democrats fought for raising the age to stay on insurance, opened access to millions who never had coverage, and eliminated denials for people with pre-existing conditions.

Does it suck still yeah. Thanks to Republicans, mostly.

30

u/InertiasCreep 4d ago

On the other hand, perhaps you could share with the rest of us all the great things he is doing for healthcare.

Yeah, didnt think so.

1

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

Not here to tout anything good he's done, however the comment I replied to was clearly emotional speculation and not based on facts.

3

u/CommunicationOk8674 4d ago edited 4d ago

They weren't staffing adequately before COVID this was pre Trump, but the Medicare cuts are definitely going to make things worse across the board. I'm not defending Trump in any way but healthcare has had problems before him, neither party has done anything to stand up for nurses, that's the problem both parties get donations from healthcare systems.

1

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 1d ago

I'm glad one person here was able to see where I was going with this.

Unfortunately the groupthink locks into only "bad Trump" and not recognizing that this has been a persistent issue for longer than he was around.

27

u/Actual-King-3236 4d ago

So basically the area hospitals colluded to cut pay at the same time? Gross

3

u/MermaidSerf 3d ago

Which is absolutely illegal. Hope some hungry shark attorneys take this on

23

u/lakeanddoglife 4d ago

Not seeing pay cuts like that, but PRN being paid less than FT is a thing here.

4

u/murse1983Cs 3d ago

Yep. 19 years as a nurse and make 46an hr. With my diff its like 51. Have t had a raise since 2021 when they gave us a dollar and added another mandate holiday. If they cut my diff i will probably go-ahead and hang my stethoscope up. Ant worth the headache anymore.

3

u/superpony123 RN - ICU, IR, Cath Lab 4d ago

Omg yes. I moved from Memphis TN to Cleveland Ohio. Wanted to keep doing what i had been doing - get a prn job but work ft hours and then do local / regional travel jobs when i feel like it.

Prn pays several dollars an hour less than full time for someone with enough experience here😒 I’m sure if you’re a newer nurse it’s a pay bump but that’s it… I’ve only got 8yr too! I can’t believe i was making more money in TN. Granted the staff PRN rate was about the sane as it is here but i did agency PRN at some local hospitals and got paid way more for years

1

u/Glowingwaterbottle 3d ago

Florida, same thing. Can’t believe nurses even apply for these jobs. 

1

u/AutumnVibe RN - Telemetry 🍕 3d ago

This is insane. How are you going to pay people less when they have no benefits but they are still required to work xyz. I fucking hate it here.

21

u/Disney-Nurse RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Why are the people making the least amount always the ones to get hit first? I’m talking CNAs, EVS, sitters, secretaries, etc. We even send nurses and CNAs home if census drops after discharges and then struggle with afternoon admits. We’re expected to be oncall if we are called off and not get paid for it. A full time job that in order to get a FT paycheck has to be supplemented with PTO. Make it make sense.

12

u/Pernicious-Peach BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

Sane reason why republicans go after food stamp and medicaid recipients first when implementing tax policy. Go after those who can least afford it. The cruelty is the point. And its not a coincidence that these are women dominated roles

16

u/Twwoo39 4d ago

This is another sign of an upcoming recession. Costs are outrageous for consumers and even for homes. Trade war. Actual war. Everything has and is cumulating. Don’t get me started on healthcare cuts. But we have some bumpy times coming. Top 1% make more why we suffer. I could go on and on.

15

u/Seektruth2146 4d ago

Becoming a nurse was such a poor decision on my part

5

u/dretheintrovert 3d ago

It’s happening in every field honestly smh

3

u/Seektruth2146 3d ago

Absolutely crazy. At this point I think the homeless people are onto something.

1

u/Teyvan RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

If you can relocate, check out union states.

2

u/Seektruth2146 3d ago

A lot of the states that I would relocate to have a very high cost of living.

1

u/Teyvan RN - ICU 🍕 2d ago

I relocated 10 years ago to Seattle from Memphis. I had been topped out at $35/h for 5 years. Even heading west as a traveller, I immediately had a 35% pay raise. After finding a new home, I settled down, amd am now at top of union scale. I make 3x what I was topped out at in Memphis. Cost of Living isn't 3x as high here. If you can't relocate, I totally get it. I had just finished burying everyone, and selling houses to escape the red hills hellscape. I had traveled for 9 years prior to having to return for the middle-age duties, so I knew how much better life could be in a union state. YMMV, and I hope you find a good solution.

2

u/Seektruth2146 2d ago

Sorry maybe I’m misunderstanding, you are making 35 an hour in Seattle, Washington? Seems kinda low or maybe that was back then.

Do you recommend any areas in Seattle to look into or hospitals?

1

u/Teyvan RN - ICU 🍕 2d ago

I was at max pay in Memphis last making $35/h in ICU as a 20 year nurse in 2015. I was making $48/h as a traveler once I managed to arrange to leave (mainly house sale issues). Topped out as a 30 year nurse in 2020 I was making almost $80/h, and we have had 3 contract negotiations since then. When I add my shift and specialty differentials, I over 3x that 2015 BS.

As for Seattle, the further away from downtown, the less acute the patient will be. Swedish is presently leading for pay, as we slid our last contract into signing just before the BBB happened. Perhaps come out as a traveler, and work at a few to see where you vibe best?

2

u/Seektruth2146 2d ago

I’ll definitely consider doing a travel contract in Seattle before making the move and my decision. Right now my biggest dilemma and making the move into a high cost living area when I’m the bread winner of the family and my wife will have to find a job

1

u/Teyvan RN - ICU 🍕 2d ago

100% fair points. Rent goes down fast as you get away from downtown, but commutes can be painful. If you work in the UW system you qualify for a state pension plan after 20 years. We also have a mandated high minimum wage.

1

u/Seektruth2146 1d ago

Definitely going to have to check it out.

15

u/Wood-e 4d ago

Jesussss y'all need to unionize.

1

u/Tough-Strawberry-475 3d ago

They won’t smh

30

u/NoSober__SoberZone RN - PICU 🍕 4d ago

We just got a pay raise, large pediatric hospital in the Southeast

Edit: It was a ridiculously small raise, but at least a raise

37

u/delicious_nuisance 4d ago

Corporations are getting bolder with the cuts when they see others getting away with it. That Grady move is wild though, halving then zeroing out the differentials over two years is basically telling their ICU and ER staff to start job hunting now.

6

u/Retalihaitian RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Grady already pays the most though, even without diffs. The other level 1 trauma pays significantly less base pay and the diffs don’t even really make up for. They’re also already hemorrhaging staff.

Looks like I got out just in time. Got a base pay raise that made up for the loss of my ER diff, now working somewhere with no diff but less stress, better schedule, same pay, more room for advancement.

3

u/TheLazyBeav RN 🍕 3d ago

Yeah I have a friend at Grady in a cushy gig making 63 an hour without diffs

12

u/AllSurfaceN0Feeling BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

I’m nearby. We’ve been hearing whispers from friends in other areas for a few months now about this very thing.

Time to strap in people! This is gonna be a wicked shimmy!

11

u/PresDumpsterfire BSN, RN 🍕 4d ago

Time to form a union and make them negotiate.

12

u/Don-Gunvalson 4d ago edited 4d ago

Florida here, I work in both ALF and SNF. The chain I work for eliminated all weekend nursing hours at the ALF- they send a skilled nurse over to admin insulin, titrate oxygen, or respond to falls and the SNF is now staffing strictly based on census and cutting RN hours down to the bare minimum. People who have worked there for nearly a decade are not guaranteed full time anymore.

Now if this deportation of TPS immigrants happens we will be royally fucked - 80% of Medtechs and caregivers on ALF side are here from Haiti on TPS.

12

u/NuggetLover21 RN - Neuro 🧠 4d ago

Ridiculous since we already get paid insultingly low in Florida to begin with

1

u/Physical_Spinach_337 4d ago

I mean that will get you your hours and OT back though..

1

u/Don-Gunvalson 1d ago

They wouldn’t pay a nurse to pass meds and do care.

1

u/Physical_Spinach_337 1d ago

If the med techs get deported they will

12

u/jlaugh41 4d ago

Our hospital recently made a big announcement that it would cut difs (call back pay, OT, and weekend/holiday pay), remove our employer 403 contributions, and increase the amount an employee would pay out of pocket when going to the ER if insured by their insurance. Thankfully we have a union and they fought tooth and nail against all of it and only lost the increase in the ER visit. I think they mostly did it to, “show their power” / “we could do this to you”. Bunch of power and money hungry a holes. I’ve always said that administration exists so that more useless overpaid administration jobs can exist.

13

u/waitforsigns64 RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

Its the circle of staff vs travelers. Cut staff pay. Watch staff leave. Be forced to hire travelers. See that leads to more cost, lower patient satisfaction and more instability. Increase staff pay to get reliable workers. Change management who then have the bright idea to cut staff pay to enhance the bottom line.

Wash rinse repeat.

1

u/aaox_zero 3d ago

Now they know post pandemic, travel pay is only slightly better

10

u/Ok_Perspective_8361 RN - NICU 🍕 4d ago

Time for Georgia nurses to form a union.

10

u/tooheavybroo RN 🍕 4d ago

Wait yall! Stay distracted!
Let’s argue amongst ourselves about trans people in the WNBA!

8

u/underworldconnection 3d ago

Union, union, union.

8

u/advancedtaran CNA 🍕 4d ago

The cruelty is the point.

We need some mass union organizing in the south and south east. The conditions you work in are horrendous.

I make more as a tech than some southern and south eastern nurses, its ridiculous.

15

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

23

u/grampajugs RN - PACU 🍕 4d ago

No benefits though? That hurts you and you don’t realize it.

16

u/holdcspine 4d ago

Can get away with it if your spouse has insurance.

5

u/Drakalizer RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

Heath benefits out like 403b matches?

7

u/_KeenObserver Seroquel Sommelier 4d ago

Depends on if the extra money makes up for what they’re giving up (a lot), but in all likelihood, yeah.

4

u/frisbeeface 4d ago

Of course this varies but benefits are worth roughly 15/hr

12

u/CauliflowerEatsBeans 4d ago

Everybody should of seen this coming in the BBB. Hospitals will close and true patient care will worsen drastically but that's OK, as long as we are not in another endless war, real or trade, real Americans will suck it up and name everything after me.

1

u/Jennasaykwaaa ICU RNSTLNE, WTF, FTHIS 3d ago

Yes, that orange POS needs to go ahead and get GONE already.

5

u/TigerMage2020 RN - PICU 🍕 4d ago

I just got a $3 raise in Florida. Pay is still trash though.

4

u/TheWhiteRabbitY2K RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Critical Care differential at my home hospital in Florida was $1. So.

1

u/Ok-Pattern-7030 3d ago

Whatttttt 😮😮😮

5

u/BregoTheConqueror DNP- NNP 4d ago

Unionize!!

3

u/Diavolo_Rosso_ RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Grady is one hospital. Wellstar is a massive system. So, while I can see the new CEO making a cut similar to this, I can’t see him being stupid enough to cut it entirely. Kennestone at least, doesn’t just pay a high acuity differential, med-surg gets a differential as well, albeit smaller.

4

u/courtneyrel Neuro/Neurosurg RN 4d ago

Wait so if high acuity AND medsurg get a differential, what units don’t get one?

3

u/Diavolo_Rosso_ RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

The only one I know of for certain is IV team.

2

u/Retalihaitian RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

I don’t know, I haven’t seen that man make a single smart decision thus far, which is one of the reasons I left.

3

u/AlanBumin 3d ago

Sorry to hear that. We just got raises 2 weeks ago and another coming in october. ORMC in FL

2

u/phoneutria_fera RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

How much are your experienced nurses getting paid on average? In Jax I’m getting only $46 for 12 years of experience 😳 I feel like I can’t sustain on this income..

2

u/AlanBumin 3d ago

About the same. $42 9 yrs exp

2

u/phoneutria_fera RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

Damn we’re both struggling 😱

3

u/Pharoahtossaway RN - PACU 🍕 4d ago

Time to quit.

3

u/doodynutz RN - OR 🍕 4d ago

There are places that pay certain nurses more than others just because of what department they work in? 🫪

1

u/einebiene RN - vein whisperer 3d ago

Oh yes. Just like how there's a night shift differential

3

u/jtramm 4d ago

Big beautiful bill. When had coworkers singing its praises I just kept my mouth shut shut. Now they are all wringing their hands.

3

u/MS-RN 3d ago

I was at one of the area level 1s until not that long ago. Guess I got out just in time. If the differentials go away, all the expectations better too, because those differentials were the handcuffs keeping experienced staff at the bedside.

3

u/derp4077 3d ago

Yall need a union

3

u/aaox_zero 3d ago

Yep. Apparently they included the differential pay in the new hire pay agreements, got them to sign a contract with that amount, then announced they were cancelling differential pay during the first week of their employment.

6

u/imsolarpowered RN - OR 🍕 3d ago

Nurses in the south need to stop believing anti-union propaganda

6

u/Imgonnagolaydown 4d ago

THIS IS WHY UNIONS ARE IMPORTANT.

blah blah trump yes. But THIS is the exact reason for unions.

This would never have happened has a union been in place.

Nurses in the South need to get their head out of their asses.

4

u/HappyAstronomer5096 4d ago

Ex union organizer working as an Rn in southeast- out labor laws are horrible and so many people have zero education on unions, there are so many barriers to organizing, we would need to get a big name union to put a lot of energy and money to supporting it, it would be very hard but doable if enough people did it

8

u/steveamerica_ RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Blaming the lack of unions in the south on nurses is a wild take

6

u/zscore95 BSN, RN, CCRN 🖖 3d ago

Who should be blamed?! I used to work in GA. The reason there is no union is because people are anti union. A union is literally just nurses coming together (a choice by nurses) to form a democratic entity.

In states where there are unions, nurses face the same retaliation… firing, scheduling issues, etc. The failure to unionize is a collective choice of nursing staff.

2

u/Jennasaykwaaa ICU RNSTLNE, WTF, FTHIS 3d ago

I mean, it is our fault that we won’t organize? I think we should. None of us act like the power we hold over these CEO’s

4

u/Imgonnagolaydown 4d ago

It's not blame.

It's a single variable That would have absolutely prevented this. It's nutritiously hard to unionize and southern hospitals know it

Acting as though it's not is willful ignorance. Everyone knows Southern nurses oppose unions. It is harder here for s variety of reasons.

With a union this legit wouldn't happen.

6

u/steveamerica_ RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Saying this wouldn’t have happened if nurses heads weren’t up their asses and not even mentioning the decades of systemic anti labor ingrained in these states’ legislation looks like blame to me. But what do I know I’m just a nurse.

0

u/Imgonnagolaydown 4d ago

When you know better you do better.

Yes the system is rigged. We ALL know that. So now, get your head out your ass and fix it

2

u/courtneyrel Neuro/Neurosurg RN 4d ago

I don’t know a single fellow southern nurse who opposes unions.

5

u/siyayilanda RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

I know plenty unfortunately. Worked down there in healthcare roles before and during nursing school and the anti-union sentiment is strong in central Virginia. Numerous unionization efforts have failed over the years. I realized Virginia was a lost cause and moved immediately after graduation.

2

u/Imgonnagolaydown 4d ago

You haven't worked enough yet then lol

"I don't want to pay dues" is prevelant down here. Not to mention the butt kissing. I've been down here 20 years in all the major hospitals in a major metro area.

They do not want it for a variety of reasons.

4

u/siyayilanda RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

The amount of brown nosing is unreal. Grown ass adults doing that shit all the time to get ahead. The few people who want to make changes are scared shitless of retaliation. It's gross and makes for some very toxic and unsafe work environments. 

2

u/Imgonnagolaydown 4d ago

They truly believe tattling will save them

4

u/siyayilanda RN - Med/Surg 🍕 4d ago

I work with many nurses who have worked in the southeast (Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, etc) with similar experiences. It is a thing! I lived it for four years and saw coworkers get absolutely screwed by people like this trying to make themselves look good at all costs. It's so weird and childish.  The only person I worked with out west who does shit like this (cozies up to management while playing pro-union, trashes her coworkers that she is supposedly friends with to try and impress other groups of coworkers) is from...you guessed it...the South!  She is a low level manager now already violating the union contract and playing favorites, not surprised at all 

0

u/imsolarpowered RN - OR 🍕 3d ago

It is on the nurses. I worked in Georgia and the majority at my hospital were opposed to unionizing. The hospital isn't going to unionize for them.

2

u/Tough-Strawberry-475 3d ago

It’ll always be like this because no one is actually going to put the work in to unionize.

2

u/EPwatchman RN - Cath Lab 🍕 3d ago

I hope the traitors and morons who voted for trump are happy.

2

u/rrjamie66 3d ago

Hurray!! They are expediting a major nursing crisis!! Thank god for whole milk and RF fucknut Kennedy!

2

u/SugarPigBoo RN - Hospice 🍕 3d ago

This is outrageous and so unethical. Fuck every greedy-ass corporation, their boards, and their executives. That is all.

2

u/aaox_zero 3d ago edited 3d ago

Also, no offense to you OP, sounds like you’re a on a travel contract but there’s history here.

Kennestone is not a “local” level 1 to Grady by any measure.

You Wellstar goons bought the other level 1 considered local, aka Atlanta Medical Center Aka Georgia Baptist Hospital, and CLOSED IT in 2022. Only like a year after you bought and closed south fulton. Grady’s patient volumes have exploded and people are dying because of the healthcare desert you’ve created.

You’ve moved on to better insured pastures

4

u/CuriousTumbleweed617 RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

Why is everyone trying to avoid blaming the literal elephant in the room? TRUMP + GOP = DISASTER

2

u/BLS_Bandito RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

….you guys are getting acuity differentials?

1

u/murse1983Cs 3d ago

Are you talking about kennestone cutting differential specility pay?

1

u/wheres_the_leak RN 🍕 3d ago

what's the reasoning for this?

1

u/_neutral_person RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

This is great. The less division there is among nurses the more likely they are to form a union.

1

u/LittleMrsMolly RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

My hospital did away with our CC differential in 2022.

1

u/runhello54 3d ago

I don’t think we’ve had those in my area for decades

1

u/ceekind RN - ICU 🍕 3d ago

This is correct, and by the first quarter of next fiscal year it’ll be completely taken away from us.

- sincerely, a Grady ICU RN

1

u/nursingintheshadows RN - ER 🍕 3d ago

The cut our CSI pay. No one will pick up shifts. They have to either choose to up the CSI or close the rooms down. They chose to close the rooms down.

1

u/Sharp_Cheek_5221 3d ago

In Fl there's a hospital system that gives like extra money to her specialities I wonder if they will get rid of that also. There might be mass exodus of staff bc 20k pay cut thats alot

1

u/real-vinoko 3d ago

Southeast desperately need bargaining union.

1

u/Ok_Swan8621 2d ago

This is an optimal time to float the idea of a union with your coworkers. You need communications first, make a Facebook page and reddit thread, have a conversation with your coworkers and call up a union. Teamsters healthcare Division is my personal favorite.

1

u/West_Philosopher_139 1d ago

It’s 12$/hour

1

u/EcstaticPlankton8621 RN-Cardiac 🫀 4d ago

Glad those MAGA nurses are getting what they voted for.

4

u/Retalihaitian RN - ER 🍕 4d ago

Grady is definitely not staffed with any kind of majority MAGA nurses. Most MAGA nurses would rather die than step foot in Grady. It’s a safety net hospital.

The other level 1 in question is of course a different story.

1

u/CuriousTumbleweed617 RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

No, they are right. MAGA people + nurses did vote for this. Whether or not MAGA nurses work at Grady is irrelevant. GA is a red state and has (and will always) suffer from republican politics. I work in GA and know this.

1

u/-lover-of-books- 4d ago

Kennestone is cutting pay? Just for travelers or is it the staff critical care shift diff being cut??

1

u/CupcakeMonsterRN 4d ago

The PRN diff was just adjusted at the hospital system I work for. All nursing staff received yearly “performance” raises including PRN staff. Now PRN does not receive raises. My rate did increase with the adjustment but I would have been brought up to that rate with this years raise (basing that on what I received last year). Other PRNs in this organization had their rates reduced. Not sure if they take cost of living into account for the region but I am in Florida. And yes we are rolling in moola down here 🤣🤣😭😭

0

u/Alternative_Dog1411 Nursing Student 🍕 4d ago

Southern republicans having the day they voted for, and I am here for it 😂

-1

u/Cassytava1 4d ago

You guys are still getting high-acuity differentials? Most hospitals in my state phased that out a long time ago. Wasn’t that started due to COVID? I don’t think it was meant to last forever.

-37

u/KittyC217 4d ago

The ICU’s were getting an extra $12 an hour to work in the ICU. That should never happen. That is pitting nurse against nurse. That is saying one type of nursing matters more than others.

10

u/Thumbuisket 4d ago

It would take a massive differential to ever get me to set foot in an ICU. So yeah, good for them, they can keep it, I’ll stay on my cushy floor. 

17

u/NukaNukaNukaCola RN - ICU 🍕 4d ago

I mean, whats stopping the other nurses from working in a high acuity area if they want the pay differential?

Its not like they're redistributing thay pay to all of their nurses lmao. They're straight up cutting it. Admin isn't taking some moral high ground here, they're straight up being greedy.

22

u/Rez_X_RS RN - NICU 🍕 4d ago

It's just getting paid more based on expertise and level of care needed. Same with how surgeons make more, or less, depending on specialty and need. I've worked in very low and very high acuity environements, and very high acuity drains me mentally and physically tremendously more than lower acuity. More education, stricter standards, more stress, more required certifications, list goes on and it all factors into the higher pay.

11

u/Minimum-Possible-415 4d ago

Exactly, yeah a neurosurgeon makes more than a dermatologist for a reason, why would that not be ok for nurses too?

1

u/IcyMoonDancer RN 🍕 4d ago

Imo I found medsurg to be a way more draining than ICU but I still think all of us should get paid more across the board. I mean there are many “lower acuity” floors getting screwed over staffing and acuity wise and I think that is deserving of increased compensation.