Tennessee Nurse's Wage

It doesn't matter what city or state you are in, nurses all deal with the same day-to-day challenges. When we encounter people at the hospital its when they are feeling their worst, they're scared, and some don't know how to express what they want so nurses are their advocates. The state of TN's average wage for a nurse in the hospital setting is 32% below national average (mind blowing). When I make this point people say "well the cost of living...". In reality, yes there's no state tax and the cost of buying a home is cheaper. Everything else is relatively the same. Another point I'd like to point out is the minimum wage in TN is $7.25 and a new grad nurse (in the Knoxville area) is started at $19.05/hour. That's a $11.80 difference. The state of CA's minimum wage is $13 hour and starts their nurses around $54/hour - a $41 difference. How are you going to justify that being equal due to the "cost of living". How do you justify a Target employee in Knoxville starting at $15/hour to a Registered Nurse starting at $19.05?? On top of the pay not being justifiable, we don't get holiday pay nor compensation if we end up getting COVID-19. Things need to change, nurses need and should to be paid much better than they are in the state of TN. Please help support us in making efforts to change this and receive the compensation we deserve.