Is no one safe?

I have always said I was glad to be a nurse.  I luv my job, working with people I like, patients I like, etc.  I have also always said that if you are a nurse, you will always have a job.  It may not be the one you want, or one you like, but people continue to get sick and need to be cared for. 

First of all, I work for the State of NC.  That's not altogether good right now.  A couple of months ago our director had an all staff meeting and, in short, told us that even tho cuts, layoffs and whatnot were going on in the state facilities, our hospital was not included in that.  After all, we need to take care of all these sick people.  Fast forward to last week.  After I was gone on my road trip for 2 weeks, I come back to a high stress, low morale, very unhappy clinic.  WTF?  I started hearing things about "no more OT" and "do more with less" and stuff like that.  That has gone on and was escalating over the past few days, so, I needed to go to the source.  My boss was meeting with certain people most of the day, including the current charge nurse.  Ack!  That is suspicious in itself.  So, when she came into the treatment area for one of her "cluster meetings", I was right there to hear.

Apparently, we are no longer immune.  The rest of UNC is already laying off and giving "furloughs".  That is hateful!  It is time off without pay, no unemployment, and you can't look for another job with the state.  She told us she will be giving us "days off" that we cannot refuse, by order of the director.  If we are told to leave early, we pack up and go.  I left early yesterday, and prolly will again today, cuz the census is low.  She is trying very hard to save our jobs, but we have to show better productivity.  I know what that means.  We have to work our asses off, turn our chairs as fast as possible, treat as many patients as we can in as little time as we can, and on to the next one.  She verified that that was indeed true.  So, I already know there are 3 or 4 nurses off today.  Ack!  I will not be called off for a while, tho.  I have only been a full-time employee for 7 months, so, for the first year we can go into a deficit with our PTO.  Thank you god!  Cuz I am -25 hours with the time I took off for my road trip.  I am immune until that evens out, and it will take 3 or 4 paydays for that to happen.  Not really a very long time.

So, is no one safe?