Is collective bargaining consistent with professionalism?
Yes, it is. RNs, teachers, doctors, engineers, pilots and many other professionals have been engaged in collective bargaining for many years. They bargain not only to improve their wages and working conditions, but to gain a more effective degree of control over the practice of their profession. With collective bargaining, RN’s for example, no longer find it necessary to choose to leave a place of employment or to leave nursing because the quality of nursing is poor. Bargaining is a means to implement mutually satisfactory changes in both the “bread and butter” and the nurse practice issues of their profession.
