🪧 If a Strike Impacts Your Pay: What to Do (and When)

I want to talk about something that’s very real for a lot of nurses right now.

Strikes are happening.
Contracts are being renegotiated.
Schedules, paychecks, and sense of stability feel uncertain.

And if you’re impacted by a strike or even might be it’s completely normal to feel anxious about money.

I want to walk you through what to focus on, in the right order, so you’re not making decisions from panic.

First: Pause before you problem-solve

Before spreadsheets, before side hustles, before drastic moves — pause.

Uncertainty activates urgency, and urgency often leads to decisions you wouldn’t make if you felt regulated. The goal right now is clarity, not perfection.

You don’t need to have everything figured out today.

Step 1: Get clear on the timeline

Ask yourself (or your union/manager):

• When would pay actually be impacted?

• Is this a full work stoppage or reduced hours?

• How long is the strike expected to last?

• Are strike pay or hardship funds available?

You don’t need answers to everything — just enough to understand whether this is:

• a short disruption, or

• something that requires a temporary plan

Uncertainty feels bigger when it’s undefined.

Step 2: Look at cash, not investments

If income might pause or drop, your priority is liquidity, not optimization.

That means:

• Checking what’s available in checking + savings

• Identifying how many weeks of essential expenses you can cover

• Pausing extra investing if needed — this is allowed

This is exactly what emergency funds are for.
Using them is not failure. It’s the plan working.

Step 3: Decide what can be temporarily flexible

This is not about cutting everything or punishing yourself.

It’s about asking:

• What expenses are truly essential right now?

• What can pause briefly without long-term harm?

• Where can I buy myself breathing room?

Think temporary adjustments, not lifestyle overhauls.

Step 4: Do not rush big financial decisions

Strikes can make people feel like they need to:

• leave a job immediately

• drain retirement accounts

• take on high-interest debt

• accept unsafe or misaligned work

If a decision is irreversible, it deserves time.

If you can wait until you’re regulated — wait.

Step 5: Protect your nervous system (this matters)

Financial decisions are harder when you’re exhausted and dysregulated.

Set boundaries where you can:

• limit doom-scrolling

• step away from constant strike chatter if it’s overwhelming

• choose conversations that help you feel informed, not panicked

Your ability to think clearly is part of your financial safety.

A reminder I want you to hear clearly

Strikes are about labor, power, and long-term safety, not personal failure.

If your money feels shaky right now, it doesn’t mean you did something wrong. It means you’re living inside a system that sometimes asks people to absorb instability.

Your job is not to have all the answers.
Your job is to take the next steady step.

If you’re impacted by a strike and don’t know where to start, bring this into your next money date:

• What’s actually changing?

• What do I already have?

• What decision can wait?