Nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., have reached a tentative agreement with hospital management.
The two-year deal, reached June 3, covers 1,600 nurses represented by the Oregon Nurses Association. If the agreement is approved in a vote by the nurses, it will take effect immediately, the union said in a news release shared with Becker's.
Nurses at Providence St. Vincent voted to authorize a strike in May. With a tentative deal in place, a strike is averted. Nurses at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City, Ore., and Providence Milwaukie (Ore.) Hospital have also voted to authorize strikes. All three hospitals are part of Renton, Wash.-based Providence.
At Providence St. Vincent, the deal improves access to appropriate personal protective equipment; incorporates safe staffing standards from Oregon's nurse staffing law; locks in most health benefit costs; and increases wages up to 14 percent over the life of the contract, according to the union release.
"This agreement addresses our patients' needs and gives us a viable way to recruit and retain the nurses our community counts on. Now it's up to Providence and nurses to honor the agreements we've made and make Providence St. Vincent the hospital we know it can be," John Smeltzer, RN, president of the union's executive committee at Providence St. Vincent, said in the news release.
Providence St. Vincent expressed similar sentiments in a statement shared with Becker's.
The statement said the hospital's labor negotiation team is pleased a tentative agreement was reached after nearly eight months and 20 bargaining sessions.
The hospital said the union will give nurses more details about the tentative deal and a ratification vote soon, and specifics of the deal will be available to the public after a ratification vote.
Providence St. Vincent and the union "look forward to continuing our long history of working together collaboratively to support the practice of nursing and providing high-quality, compassionate care for the patients and communities we serve," the hospital stated.
Bargaining continues with Providence Willamette Falls and Providence Milwaukie, as well as with Providence Hood River (Ore.) Memorial Hospital.