Collective Bargaining in Nursing - Assignment Example

The nursing environment has various challenges that result in to decrease in the nurse-patient ratio in health care organizations. Collective bargaining enables nurses to manage their practices and accomplish both economic and professional objectives (Lovell, 2006). Unionization of health care organization brings various benefits to the nurses and patients. Benefits to nurses Having membership in the union nurses can enjoy better remuneration compared to their counterparts without a union.

Unions empower nurses to bargain for better pays and reimbursements with their employers thus making them have a better deal than individuals (Lovell, 2006). Organizations are more willing to listen to the grievances raised by unions and protect their members against intimidation by their employers. Since companies rarely win against claims raised by the union, they pay their employees according to the market rate or standards determined by the worker's unions to avoid conflicts such as strikes that may sterilize operations of the organizations.

Unionization contributes to about a 13% increase in nurse wages. Also, according to Edwin & Trevor (2011, p. 16), there is a “strong correlation between the presence of unions and overall wages for nurses.” Benefits to patients Unions benefits the patients in terms of the quality of services they get from the nurses.