Looking at a contract offer where bump-ups in health care costs swallowed proposed raises was the final jab of the needle. You can't blame them. You can't much blame their bosses, either. Hospitals have become financial open wounds, with no tourniquet in sight. It's the HMOing of America.
Dollars count as much as patients.
HMOs, in turn, put the arm on hospitals to cut costs. So hospitals cut staff and push patients out the door as soon as the bleeding stops. Getting the butt end are nurses. The job gets worse while the pay stays the same. Marcia Brzezinski walked out with the other nurses at St. Joe's.