A majority of some 380 striking nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center have rejected the health care system’s latest contract offer, joining thousands of other nurses around the state who remain on strike going into their fifth week. It is the largest healthcare worker strike in Oregon history.
Nurses at seven Providence hospitals across the state have voted to reject a tentative agreement that would have ended a nearly month-long strike. Due to weather conditions since Tuesday, nurses at Providence Medford have until Saturday to finish voting on their proposed deals.
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.
Oregon is preparing for what could be sweeping changes to its immigration landscape with President Donald Trump back in office. The state is home to about 120,000 undocumented immigrants. There are also tens of thousands more people living in Oregon under other designations, including those fleeing violence and persecution, workers who are here on the H-1B visa, or international students enrolled in Oregon universities. The state also has one of the broadest sanctuary laws in the U.S.
Nearly 5,000 Providence Health & Systems nurses and other professionals walked off their jobs Friday in the largest strike by health workers in state history — and the first involving unionized doctors.
Bundled up and bearing bright-green signs, dozens of nurses gathered outside Providence Medford Medical Center Friday morning to begin their open-ended strike advocating for better pay, safe staffing and more adequate health insurance benefits.
The Oregon Nurses Association issued a 10-day strike notice Monday, 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 ONA members at Providence hospitals across the state. The strike is scheduled to begin Jan. 10.
Ashland has a new Goodwill Retail Store that doubles the previous store’s sales space and includes a Job Connection, a center that helps people in the community develop and upgrade their work skills. A throng of shoppers lined up for the store’s opening Thursday at 777 E. Jefferson Ave., less than a mile from the old store on Tolman Creek Road. The old store is now closed.
A budget crisis didn’t stop Ashland schools Superintendent Joseph Hattrick Monday night from vowing to turn a fiscal corner within a few years with the community’s help. He spoke Monday night before an audience of about 50 parents and school staff at Ashland High School’s Mountain Avenue Theatre during the first of four public outreach sessions this week.
After nearing what they call their “bottom line,” Providence Medford nurses say “nothing is off the table” after a Tuesday bargaining session failed to end in a new contract with hospital administration. A strike authorization vote date is pending for Medford registered nurses represented by the Oregon Nurses Association.
Hundreds turned out for Ashland’s first wildfire evacuation drill. The exercise tested how quickly cars, cyclists and those on foot could reach safety using the emergency on-ramp at North Mountain Avenue.
Ashland School District plans to contract with a Eugene-based firm to “shore up” the 1948 wing of the shuttered Lincoln School building, which the city fire marshal ordered shut days before the beginning of the school year in August.
The Rogue Theater Company will bring to life Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” opening Thursday, Oct. 16. The production features a cast of celebrated Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors.
After having to adapt on the fly during the Almeda Fire five years ago, agencies across Jackson County now have a shared wildfire evacuation plan that spells out each group’s duties. Law enforcement leads the way In the event of a citywide wildfire evacuation, while local fire departments and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) will focus on fighting the fire.
Jim Hatton: There is only one thing that causes unhappiness: attachment. Attachment comes when we hold on to something for fear of losing it because we believe that we can’t be happy without it.
Herbert Rothschild: Is it possible to write columns about torturing people in Guantanamo or eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development without alienating those who are OK with such actions?
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