I work at a hospital. We're a bit understaffed and busy like all hospitals, but nothing dangerous or crazy. The department I work in is “important” and directly affects the quality of care patients receive.
There are union employees and non-union employees. I am non-union and do not have an option for union. I work directly with employees who are union.
Non-union employees share their PTO with sick days/vacation (if you're sick you use a vacation day) while union employees have separate sick days and vacation days. A doctor's note is not required.
My department is not in a position at this time to “cover” for the call in. So if someone calls in, you have to cover their work and there is no attempt to replace them. When this happens, it puts an enormous amount of strain on everyone else and sometimes they have to work doubles.
Now I acknowledge that this is not the fault of the employee that takes time off and they are entitled to sick days. It's not their fault that there is no coverage for them. I'm also not anti-union.
But the problem is that 3/4 of the time they are not sick. It's usually weekends, the days where they know it's going to be busier, or padding close to other vacation days.
I've worked here for 12 years and only called out 2 back to back days three months after just starting. It has been over a decade since I've called out. Other than that, 3 or 4 times for the deaths of direct family members.
Now what are the odds that people in their 20s and 30s are sick 15 – 20 days a year? Not COVID, surgery, or prolonged illness. Just “sick”. Usually they will say it was a “stomach bug”.
Even if I were union I would not call in sick if I weren't really sick. I take great pride in my work and would not want to let my coworkers down or cause delays in patient care. I'm not some boomer or management, I'm in my 30's. I have a couple nagging health issues that I could use as excuses to call in from time to time, but I don't. If I can get out of bed, I can work. If I have a cough/cold I wear a mask.
So that's my rant. I think people that “call in sick” suck. I would think they suck even if we were fully staffed and they had a replacement. There are plenty of vacation days and I just couldn't be dishonest like that and inconvenience other people.