St. Charles Bend nurses turn out in support of striking medical tech workers
Dueling news releases, again, on fifth day
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- St. Charles Bend nurses joined picketers near the hospital on Monday, voicing support for about 150 medical tech workers and concern for patient care during the walkout, in its fifth day.
One of the RNs on hand, Joel Hernandez, told NewsChannel 21 of the replacement workers: "These individuals have openly stated, 'I dont know what I'm doing -- I've never done this before.'"
"I've heard this with my own ears," he said. "And so that is a concern. And that is why the nurses at the hospital, whose ultimate goal to keep our patients safe, are so anxious. And so we're here to make the community aware of what's going on -- that business is not 'as usual.'"
Hernandez said there's been a delay and reduction in surgeries and other medical operations.
As in past days, the union and hospital each issued news releases. Here they are, in full, first from the Oregon Federation of Nursing and Health Professionals:
Hospital Refuses to End Strike, Workers Continue Day 5 With Massive Community Support
As the hospital continues to refuse to negotiate with their workers and run the hospital on a skeleton crew, the support for the striking medical techs grows throughout the state.
BEND, Ore.—As the strike at St. Charles Medical Center heads into its fifth day, the hospital is still refusing to negotiate with their workers and ensure adequate staffing and patient care. The medical therapists, technicians, and technologists, who voted by a record 94% to go on strike, have continued to walk the picket line each and every day with increasing community support. Nurses and other hospital staff acting in their capacity as community members have regularly joined the picket, as have community, civil, and political leaders from around Oregon. Leaders like Representative Jason Kropf and District Attorney John Hummel have walked the picket line with these workers, showing that the state is united behind the union’s fight for fairness and respect. Now, the hospital has gone so far as to issue a refusal to allow the techs to come back to work, which runs counter to their claims that the techs are essential and important staff.
The nurses at St. Charles have raised serious concerns about how the hospital has handled negotiations. “The claim that the ‘hospital is open and providing care as usual’ made by hospital administration is not accurate, and it is simply impossible given the current circumstances. There are replacement surgical and radiology technicians on site, but they are not trained to the level that our native techs are as to the equipment, policies, best practices, and staff,” says Corey Sattler, an RN at St. Charles.
The striking medical techs are open to negotiations at any time, yet the hospital refuses to bargain until March 10th, leaving all of Central Oregon in uncertainty. In the first four days of the strike, the community donated over $25,000 to the strike fund, and each day the picket line has been joined by people from all around the Bend area. Unions around the state have issued statements of support, including the Teamsters, who are refusing to cross the picket line for deliveries. As we head into our fourth day, the support is only continuing to grow as the hospital’s mismanagement is drawing nationwide attention. The medical techs are ready to return to work immediately upon settling a fair first union contract with St. Charles management.
Right now, St. Charles is in full control of when this strike ends, but is choosing to ignore the wishes of the community, staff, and healthcare professionals by prolonging the strike indefinitely. The medical techs have maintained unity from the beginning and will continue to walk the picket line until they win fair working conditions.
St. Charles Health System's Monday news release:
OFNHP continues to be unresponsive
Now on day five of its strike, the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) has neither declined St. Charles Bend’s March 3 supposal nor provided a counter, or otherwise made any attempt to respond to that proposal since the strike began.
The parties are still scheduled to meet with a federal mediator for the next bargaining session on March 10. In the meantime, operations at St. Charles Bend continue uninterrupted with qualified replacement workers covering shifts throughout the hospital. Surgeries and other procedures are taking place as scheduled.
“We’ve not received a return to work notice from the union, which is the first step in the process of bringing our caregivers back to work,” said St. Charles Bend President Aaron Adams.
Two core issues still remain on the table: compensation and union security.
The teams have agreed upon wages for the first year of the contract. Under this agreement, the average hourly wage for techs in the bargaining unit will be $41.94 per hour. This equates to an annual base salary of $87,000 a year for a full-time equivalent position, not including overtime, premium pay, shift differentials and other benefits. However, wages for years two through five of the contract are still being negotiated.
The union has also requested a closed shop, meaning all St. Charles technical employees’ jobs would be conditional upon joining the union and paying 1.4% of their base wage in dues or paying agency fees and giving up voting rights. St. Charles has asked for an open shop in order to give its caregivers a choice on whether they are members of the union.
