Analysis of an Ethical Conflict in Practice Carol Lynn Esposito, EdD, JD, MS, RN-BC, NPD
n A bstract
The controversy over whether it is professional and/or ethical for nurses to unionize and engage in strike activity has been longstanding and continues today. Those who oppose the idea of nurses joining a union and engaging in strike activity believe that the behavior is unprofessional, unethical, constitutes patient abandonment, and is antithetical to nursing’s primary commitment to patient care and advocacy. Nevertheless, since 1946, the American Nurses Association (ANA) and, since 1999, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have supported the nurses right to organize, to bargain collectively, and to take strike action, so long as the strike action is a measure of last resort and all essential patient services have been provided for. Since the 1940s, both the National Labor Management Relations Act (also called the Taft-Hartley Act) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provide for and protect a striking workers right to engage in behaviors and activities that are supportive of the union’s cause. When striking nurses are faced with the decision over whether or not to allow union truckers making deliveries of essential supplies and food to cross the picket line, a perplexing ethical dilemma and moral distress can develop. Nurses possessed of the requisite skills of moral reasoning and leadership as well as the strategies to carry out moral decisions can overcome and resolve such ethical tensions while, concomitantly, contributing to essential social goods such as advocating for self, advocating for the provision of health for all, and supporting the principles of beneficence, justice, and nonmaleficence.
Carol Lynn Esposito, EdD, JD, MS, RN-BC, NPD, is currently employed by the New York State Nurses Association as the Director of Nursing Education and Practice. She also has held positions at NYSNA as the Director of Labor Education, and as an Associate Director in NYSNA’s Labor Program. An attorney with over 25 years of experience in the field of medical and nursing malpractice, and 30 years as a nursing educator, Dr. Esposito has been adjunct faculty at Adelphi University School of Nursing; Hofstra University, University College of Continuing Education; Dowling College; and Excelsior College School of Nursing. She has authored many articles and text materials on subjects of interest to nurses. Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, Volume 45, Number 2
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