The largest healthcare strike in Oregon history nears the end of its third week.
The parties in the largest healthcare strike in Oregon history will return to the bargaining table at the request of Gov. Tina Kotek as nurses and other Providence employees remain off the job for a third week.
After days of deadlock, a new round of negotiations began Wednesday evening, according to joint media release signed by representatives of Providence management and the Oregon Nurses Association, which represents around 5,000 striking employees — primarily nurses but also midwives, techs, physicians and other staff members — who oppose unfavorable conditions including low pay and high patient counts. “Both sides are engaging in every effort to get this dispute resolved as expeditiously as possible and get people back to work,” reads the message.
Friday will mark the end of Week Three. Since Jan. 10, workers have picketed outside the Catholic not-for-profit health system’s eight Oregon hospitals: two in Portland as well as in Medford, Hood River, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Newberg and Seaside. Striking workers from Providence’s six women’s clinics have joined the other strike sites, according to Kevin Mealy, spokesman for the Oregon Nurses Association, which represents the striking workers.
The Oregonian quotes a union source as saying Providence hadn’t budged on issues of wages and benefits since the strike began.
Both Mealy and a Providence spokesman declined to discuss what sticking points have held up negotiations.
Providence is not working with deadlines in mind to terminate striking staff members, according to Providence spokesperson Gary B. Walker.
Wednesday afternoon outside St. Vincent Medical Center in unincorporated Washington County, Dr. Yolonda Domond protested with her mother, Carol Halvorson. Domond said her the main issue is staffing ratios. “They keep giving us more and more patients,” which she says has led to poorer levels of care.
Providence has temporarily closed four of its women’s clinics and hired a “full complement” of temporary replacement workers, among other measures. Last week, it notified 45 pregnant patients they will be transferred to the care of other physicians, some within Providence and some to outside practices and health systems, Walker tells Oregon Business.
In Salem, a bill now in committee would provide workers in future strikes with unemployment benefits. According to Willamette Week, Senate Bill 916, written at the request of the AFL-CIO of Oregon, could face opposition from business groups. Two states currently allow striking workers to collect unemployment, New York and New Jersey.
A number of state and federal Oregon lawmakers have publicly supported the strike. Several are themselves healthcare professionals including Rep. Dacia Grayber (D-Tigard), a firefighter-paramedic, Rep. Travis Nelson (D-Portland), a nurse and former ONA vice president.
A letter signed by Oregon’s two Democratic U.S. senators and five U.S. representatives calls on the heads of the Oregon Nurses Association and Providence to quickly resolve the dispute.
“The Providence system is a critical part of Oregon’s health care infrastructure. It’s past time to agree on a fair contract — for the nurses, doctors, and other staff who care for Oregonians, and for all of those who receive care at Providence,” reads the letter. “We call on both parties to bring this commitment to justice to the bargaining table, to actively engage in bargaining all contracts, and to offer and negotiate proposals that meaningfully address caregiver concerns about wages, working conditions, and staffing.”
Oregon’s lone Republican U.S. representative, Cliff Bentz, did not sign the letter.
Social media influencers and nurse advocates Jessica Sites, aka “Nurse Jessica,” and “Nurse Erica” (who doesn’t provide her last name) have appeared on the picket line in solidarity with striking Providence workers.
The labor action is the first in recent memory to feature doctors, of whom there are around 150 who work at St. Vincent’s and Providence’s six Portland-area women’s clinics. Earlier this month, a doctor representing the group told OB they struck to protest their own work conditions as well as stand in solidarity with nurses.
Prior to the strike, Providence made an ultimately unsuccessful plea to physicians to return to talks facilitated by a federal mediator.
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