‘Strike Nurse’ or ‘Scab’? Nurse Faces Backlash After ‘Day-in-the-Life’ Video

A nurse who traveled to work at a hospital where house staff were on strike faced backlash from a July 5 TikTok where she detailed a “day in the life” of her job.

She filmed herself traveling to the strike location, touting her “eye mask and headphone combo” on the plane, and noted that “Strike contracts are a pretty quick turnaround, so you have to be ready to go. You also have to be extremely adaptable and flexible, similar to travel nursing.”

She stayed in a hotel and filmed her attendance at an onboarding session with other “strike nurses,” which is how she refers to herself.

The 35-second video struck a nerve with more than 2,500 commenters, many of whom directed disbelief and even anger at the poster, whose TikTok and LinkedIn accounts identify her as Mireya Bustamante. Many criticized her for crossing a picket line while fellow nurses attempted to negotiate better work conditions — and recording herself throughout.

Commenters pointed to what they saw as a lack of solidarity, or even a betrayal of unionized nurses, whose absence acts as leverage to persuade hospital administrators to arrive at a more favorable contract.

“If you supported the nurses striking like you claim, you wouldn’t take a strike contract. Disappointing. This is why unions don’t get fair contracts,” one commenter wrote.

“You’re actively harming the striking nurses and the nursing profession. I wouldn’t be bragging,” wrote another.

Others called her a “scab” or a “bootlicker,” pejorative terms for someone who breaks a union picket line to work, ostensibly weakening the union’s position. “Ahhh yes throwing your fellow nurses under the bus for a check,” another commenter wrote.

The outcry casted a light on the profound grievances nurses have aired throughout the pandemic — often in the form of protests and labor action — in the face of grueling schedules, workplace violence, and short-staffing. A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute also found that while union organizing in general ticked up in 2022, many workers face barriers to unionizing, most often in the form of intense corporate opposition.

Still, some commenters defended Bustamante’s TikTok, thanking her for taking care of patients. Others expressed more conflicted thoughts. One wrote, “I am conflicted about the idea of strike nurses. On one hand, they are crossing the picket but they are also expensive for the hospital executives.” Responses to that comment, however, disputed that hospitals would have trouble paying for the higher-earning replacements for long stretches, and may have strike insurance to cover costs.

Although Bustamante stood out for shooting a TikTok documenting her day, “strike nursing” is not uncommon. It’s a lucrative enough business that entire staffing firms are devoted to placing non-union nurses during strikes. Firms including Huffmaster, US Nursing, Medical Solutions Strike Staffing, RapidStaff, and Healthsource Global Staffing all advertise their ability to quickly recruit staff during what one agency calls “pending job actions.”

The next day, Bustamante got back on TikTok to film a response video, where she doubled down, saying to critics, “The way you treat others is a reflection of you, so just be careful with what you say to other people.”

She added, “There is nothing wrong with you going and working and paying your bills.”

Bustamante works for Ascension as a registered nurse and is based out of Austin, Texas, according to her LinkedIn.