Should nurses gatekeep their pay?

Sup nurses!

Let’s talk about something important.

Should nurses gatekeep their pay? I recently polled our subscribers on YouTube to ask them this very question.

And Guess what?

A whopping 74% said we should not. Only 13% said we should, and another 13% said they don’t know. Interesting, right?

I feel justified.

Why? Because it shows that the loud minority is just that—loud. But there's a large silent majority. They want nurses to talk about their pay. Why? Because it benefits the entire profession!

Sharing our pay DOES lead to better salaries for all of us.

Transparency helps.

I know that if I were an employer I would absolutely love it if my employees kept shut about their pay because then I could stiff them and pay them less than the competition.

Transparency pushes employers to offer fair wages.

When nurses know they're being paid fairly, they're more likely to stay. This means less turnover and better patient care. Everyone wins.

However, I do acknowledge that pay transparency can also have downsides.

There’s a possibility it may lead to jealousy and resentment among nurses in non-union-represented hospitals or facilities if they find that their colleagues have a large difference in pay.

This is especially true for nurses at the top of the pay scale—like travel nurses—who might experience pay compression and feel like their wages are stagnant.

On the other hand, nurses at the bottom end of the pay scale are now seeing their wages increase due to transparency and becoming more vocal about getting paid fairly.

I have a personal story to share.

When Monica and I moved to California, joined the local nurses' union, and started talking about our wages on YouTube, a few nurses tried to get me fired.

These nurses claimed that our openness about our wages would hinder the union’s chances of getting better wage increases during our contract negotiations.

This attempt failed because federal law allows us to discuss our salaries without fear of retribution from our employers.

Ultimately, we secured one of the best wage increases since the union's inception in our most recent contract.

And, it should not be left without saying that nurses in Northern California are the highest-paid in the country.

This isn't just luck.

It's because of strong union contracts and transparency. So much so that other states are now trying to model their nurse union contracts after what they have seen or heard coming out of California. They see the benefits and want the same for their nurses.

I recently interviewed a nurse union rep from Florida (video coming soon) who told me they model their negotiations after the nurses in Northern California.

Because of this, their hospital now has the highest wages of any private hospital in Florida.

So, should we gatekeep our pay? Nope. Let’s be open.

I created a survey so we can all share our wages. Submit your info below and I’ll send an email in 1-2 weeks with the results. I’ll also host a livestream to discuss the results on air.

Let’s help each other. Together, we can make a difference.

If you appreciate the transparency in this newsletter, we share more of this with our members in the Nurses to Riches accelerator program.

The program was created for nurses who want to move to California and earn $200,000 per year while working fewer than 40 hours per week.

It teaches you:

• Whether California is (or isn’t) for you

• How to get licensed in California

• How to plan before you move

• How to find a hospital that makes sense for you

• How to analyze and determine your wage on a hospital-by-hospital basis by using our Top California Hospitals Spreadsheet

• How to determine which city makes the most sense to live in by using our Ultimate Salaries Spreadsheet with Cost of Living data

• How to work smarter, not harder so you can reduce your working hours and make more money

• How to get rid of your debt (we paid off $128k in less than 1 year)

• How to begin to invest your money

If this sounds good to you and you want to be part of our community, you can visit our website and use coupon code “LOYAL5” to get an additional 5% off the already heavily discounted 50% from the original price as a thank you for being a subscriber of our newsletter.