Providence nurses reject tentative agreements as strike continues
By Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Nurses on strike at eight Providence hospitals in Oregon have rejected tentative agreements that would have ended the largest health care workers’ strike in state history.
Nearly 5,000 health care workers, including nurses and physicians, began striking Jan. 10 at hospitals around the state. Next steps are uncertain after nurses overwhelmingly voted against tentative contracts. On Monday, officials for the Oregon Nurses Association and Providence Health & Services said they have no date scheduled for mediation sessions.
Hospitals affected by the strike include Portland’s St. Vincent, Providence Portland Medical Center and hospitals in Hood River, Medford, Milwaukie, Newberg, Seaside and Oregon City.
Overall, 83% of nurses voted against the contracts, the Oregon Nurses Association said in a release.
“ONA nurses have been clear from the beginning of negotiations: they are demanding safe staffing that considers how much care a patient needs, competitive wages to help recruit and retain staff to reach safe staffing levels, and a healthcare plan that allows caregivers to take care of their families,” the nurses union said in a statement.
The union also said nurses are “demanding safe staffing that considers how much care a patient needs.”
In a statement, Providence said its offers are fair and include average wage increases of 20% across a three-year period. Those would raise the base wages for full-time acute-care nurses to $150,000 annually.
Providence officials, meanwhile, said it included staffing language in its tentative proposals, and its 5.7% vacancy rate for registered nurses is the lowest it’s been in three years.
As the strike continues, Providence health care workers also have approved two contracts in the past week. About 80 physicians and nurses at Providence’s women’s clinic, which has six Portland-area sites, passed a contract.
Physicians and nurse practitioners at Providence St. Vincent in Portland, a group of more than 70 workers, also approved a contract.
