It would be largest healthcare worker and physicians strike in Oregon history
By James Sloan, Rogue Valley Times
The Oregon Nurses Association issued a 10-day strike notice Monday morning, setting the stage for what would be the largest healthcare worker and physicians strike in Oregon history.
The notice followed a five-day cooling off period and additional mediated discussions that included nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, as well as physicians, nurses, physician associates, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners, among others, at Providence hospitals and clinics across the state. The strike is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Jan. 10.
ONA said it remains “100% committed” to continuing bargaining during the 10-day notice period and during the strike.
Nurses in Medford have been without a new contract since March, have negotiated since January and have participated in nearly two dozen bargaining sessions.
The nurses union is representing approximately 5,000 caregivers in 11 bargaining units across eight hospitals and six clinics that include Providence Medford, Providence Portland, Providence Seaside, Providence Milwaukie, Providence Newberg, Providence St. Vincent, Providence Hood River and Providence Willamette Falls.
Medford’s hospital includes approximately 380 nurses in the union, according to Myrna Jensen, communications specialist for ONA.
“We really want Providence to come back to the negotiating table. … We need manageable caseloads and to preserve work-life balance,” Jensen said in an interview with the Rogue Valley Times. “Other things for them is affordability of healthcare; a misconception a lot of the public have is that because they work at a hospital that they must have good health insurance, and that’s not the case.”
In the news release issuing the strike notice Monday, ONA stated, “From dangerous practices like understaffing critical care units and emergency rooms that delay care and endanger patients, Providence has ignored its responsibilities to its workers, its patients, and to Oregonians. Healthcare workers are asking Providence to invest more in patient safety, stop cuts to healthcare, follow the Safe Staffing law, and offer regionally competitive wages and benefits to be able to recruit and retain more staff.
“When intensive negotiations facilitated by federal mediators began on Dec. 16, union-represented healthcare workers were hopeful that fair contracts would be on the table, but over the course of the week it became clear that hospital management was not interested in responding to their concerns with serious proposals,” the release said. “While Providence claims that a strike is ‘premature,‘ thousands of caregivers have been waiting for more than a year for their employer to come to the table with a fair offer and many have been working without contracts.”
Providence stated in an email to the Times last week that negotiation teams from eight hospitals plus three added bargaining units were “hard at work” with help from federal mediators.
“It takes two to get an agreement,” Chris Pizzi, chief executive of the Providence Southern Oregon Service Area, said in a statement to the Times Monday. “We have a competitive offer on the table, with double-digit pay increases for hospital nurses in the first year representing an average of $20,000 for each full time nurse.”
According to Pizzi, Providence Medford is also offering benefits regarding safe staffing levels.
“Our teams have been fully committed to finding solutions. Unfortunately, the union was less willing to compromise to find some middle ground,” he said. “Drawing out these negotiations seems to be a strategy to synchronize strikes across multiple hospitals, rather than reaching a timely and beneficial resolution for our nurses here at Providence Medford.”
Earlier this summer, Providence Medford nurses coordinated with other hospitals for what the ONA described as the state’s largest-ever nursing strike.
The ONA launched a web page — oregonrn.org/patientsbeforeprofits — that contains a FAQ page with information about why nurses, doctors and other caregivers could potentially go on strike.
The 10-day advance notice gives Providence time to hire temporary replacements during the strike.
“Providence Medford’s intention is that patients will feel no impact,” Pizzi said of potential effects from the 10-day strike. “We are doing a lot of the same planning we did in the summer when ONA leaders chose to strike. We’ve secured replacement workers and identified other strategies to help us care for our patients.”
Reach reporter James Sloan at jsloan@rv-times.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.
