Gov. Tina Kotek met with nurses union and Providence officials on Tuesday, urging them to renew efforts and end the strike
By Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
The nurses union and Providence Health & Services officials are returning to in-person mediation Wednesday after Gov. Tina Kotek requested they do so to end the largest health care worker strike in state history.
Nearly 5,000 nurses, doctors and other health workers at Providence hospitals and clinics in Oregon went on strike on Jan. 10. And nearly three-week impasse has impacted health care across Oregon, with Providence forced to bring in temporary replacements and cancel some procedures. The company’s Oregon spokesman, Gary Walker, did not respond to a request for details.
There are eight Providence hospitals, including four in the Portland region and the Columbia Gorge, southern Oregon and the coast. Union members at Providence’s six Portland-area women’s clinics are also on strike.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Oregon Nurses Association and the faith-based nonprofit said they agreed to “re-engage in intensive, in-person mediation” at Kotek’s request.
“Both sides are engaging in every effort to get this dispute resolved as expeditiously as possible and get people back to work,” the statement said.
In a separate statement, Kotek said she met with both sides on Tuesday and requested the union and company start in-person mediation to resolve the strike and labor dispute so care can resume.
“I am pleased to see both sides going back to the bargaining table with fresh ideas, and I urge them to come to a fair agreement as quickly as possible,” Kotek said.
When the strike started on Jan. 10, Kotek publicly blamed Providence, which failed to avert the strike after receiving a 10–day notice from the union. Kotek said then that Providence “wasted 10 days when they could have been at the table making progress towards a comprehensive resolution of their labor dispute.”
Providence has said it did not have time to negotiate with nurses as it prepared for a strike.
Oregon Nurse Association leaders, who are negotiating for nurses and on behalf of 150 doctors who walked off the job, say they’re striking over staffing levels, working conditions and wages, with salaries not keeping pace with inflation and nurses doing more than they’ve ever done.
The union has asked Providence to base staffing levels on “acuity,” which is the level of intensive care that each patient needs. But so far, Providence and the union have failed to align on that issue.
Previously, Providence officials have said they have made “competitive offers” for each hospital’s bargaining unit with “double-digit pay increases for hospital nurses representing more than $12,000 a year for a typical nurse.” Providence has said it also proposed language in its staffing proposals that takes acuity into account.
In addition to Portland St. Vincent Medical Center, the health system runs the Providence Portland Medical Center and hospitals in Hood River, Medford (in the Providence Medford Medical Center), Milwaukie, Newberg, Seaside and Oregon City.
Ben Botkin covers justice, health and social services issues for the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
