St. Charles physicians, health care workers withdraw petition for union representation

'It is my hope that we can come together to bridge our differences,' chief clinical officer says

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Central Oregon Providers Network union and St. Charles Health System jointly announced Thursday that COPN has withdrawn its petition to represent physicians, advanced practice providers and many other caregivers within St. Charles Medical Group.

The National Labor Relations Board has agreed to the petition withdrawal, the two organizations announced.

Joe Sluka's decision last July to step down as president and CEO of the health system, succeeded by Dr. Steve Gordon as interim CEO, apparently was a key factor in reaching the resolution, though the union organizers noted that it is for a "six-month trial period," with further progress still being sought.

COPN first filed its petition for representation of about 300 medical professionals in June of last year. The NLRB had scheduled an election for later this month before receiving the request to withdraw the petition. That election has now been canceled, the two parties said in a joint news release, which continues in full below:

“We are eager to work with the new St. Charles leadership and are cautiously optimistic that during this six-month trial period they will deliver on their promise to continue to build a just culture organization that honors the vision to make patient care the top priority and embraces provider input and well-being,” said Dr. Les Dixon, an Emergency Department physician at St. Charles northern campuses and member of the COPN organizing committee.

Since the group originally filed for union representation, St. Charles has experienced changes in senior leadership and has announced a new strategic direction focused on developing service lines that align with the patient’s health care journey.

The health system also worked hard toward and began to achieve improvements in financial performance in the second half of 2022. Like all health systems in the nation, St. Charles continues to face significant pandemic-related shortages of staff and increased expenses for equipment and supplies.

“After extensive internal discussion, our group determined that the best path forward for our providers and our patients was to give the new senior leadership team at St. Charles a chance to work with us directly to address our providers’ concerns,” said Dr. Michael Wahl, a radiation oncologist in the St. Charles Cancer Center, who was not involved in organizing the union.

“I am grateful that union organizers have taken this step and am optimistic that we will be able to make significant progress in the coming months to address the needs of our providers. We all want to ensure that St. Charles can continue to attract excellent health care providers to Central Oregon to provide the best possible care for our community.”  

St. Charles leaders and the physicians, APPs and other caregivers in this group said they are looking forward to working together to address concerns related to contracting processes, compensation and more while also focusing on what matters most – providing the best possible patient care.

“It is my hope that we can come together to bridge our differences and develop a relationship of trust that is built on forward momentum and action,” said Dr. Mark Hallett, chief clinical officer for St. Charles. “I am humbled by this decision and profoundly grateful for the gift of time to work collaboratively on issues we all know need to be addressed.” 

About St. Charles Health System

St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, Madras, Prineville, Redmond, La Pine and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,500 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.