Seven things to know:
1. Nearly 5,000 employees across 11 bargaining units — including nurses at eight Providence hospitals, as well as some physicians at Portland-based Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and the Providence Women’s Clinic — went on strike beginning Jan. 10 in what is estimated to be the largest healthcare strike in Oregon’s history.
2. After 26 days on strike and mediation initiated at the request of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Providence reached tentative agreements with the Oregon Nurses Association covering nurses in eight bargaining units across the state.
3. On Feb. 7, the union announced that nurses from Providence St. Vincent, Providence Portland, Providence Milwaukie, Providence Willamette Falls, Providence Newberg, Providence Hood River, and Providence Seaside had voted down the agreements. On Feb. 8, the union said that nurses from Providence Medford also rejected the contract offer from Providence management.
4. The ONA said nurses’ rejection “underscores nurses’ demands for safe staffing standards, competitive wages to recruit and retain staff, and healthcare benefits that ensure caregivers can take care of their families.” The union also contends that Providence’s proposals “fail to adequately address these critical issues, which have contributed to ongoing burnout, understaffing, and wage inequities across their facilities.”
5. Providence refuted the union’s allegations that the compensation packages offered are not market-competitive, as well as ONA claims of inadequate staffing resulting in excessive turnover. Management also called the union’s claims about unaffordable healthcare coverage “misleading.”
6. Hospitalists and palliative care physicians at St. Vincent, represented by the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association — a local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and affiliated with the Oregon Nurses Association — have approved their tentative agreement, according to Feb. 8 statements from Providence and the ONA. The contract covers more than 70 hospitalists and palliative care physicians. Members of this bargaining unit will continue to honor their picket line until nurses at the hospitals reach an agreement, union representatives said.
7. Nurses, physicians and providers in two bargaining units at Providence Women’s Clinic in the Portland area have voted to ratify their agreements. These staff returned to work Feb. 6 after accepting Providence’s offer, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.