Victoria Post & Zachary Miller
Nurses, physicians, and healthcare workers employed by Providence Healthcare voted to reject the tentative contract reached between their union and Providence on February 4. 83% of nurses voted against the contracts across eight hospitals, instead choosing to continue the strike that started on January 10. Almost 5,000 workers will remain on the picket line in what is the largest healthcare workers’ strike in Oregon history.
In the tentative contract, Providence Healthcare has presented its workers with a 20% wage increase over a three year period, with language in the contract that would address staffing and retention, boasting a 5.7% turnover rate that is the lowest in the state according to Providence. The proposed pay “increase” is largely for the higher end of the pay scale and does not make up for the rising cost of living.
This language largely side-steps the central issues of staffing and retention the healthcare workers are fighting for, according to the nurses union. Oregon Nurses Association said of the tentative agreement that “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”. Hospitals nationwide are cutting workforces, citing Covid as an excuse, while increasing work tempo and cutting corners with care through higher staff-to-patient ratios. Nurses unions cite that this pressure causes higher mortality rates among patients, patient falls, medication errors, longer patient stays, increased staff workload, and burnout among hospital staff.
Providence healthcare workers have defeated Providence’s attempts to divide the workers by pushing for separate bargaining at the eight individual hospitals, though the striking nurses at the Providence Women’s Clinics did accept a separate agreement earlier this month. Providence has also begun to threaten the striking workers and their families with termination of their benefits and health insurance. All striking employees were told by Providence if they did not return to work, their benefits would lapse effective February 28th. The Union has criticized this action, as the National Labor Relations Board maintains that being on strike does not count as ending employment or as reduced work hours.
Starting out as a local Catholic healthcare system, Providence has grown into a national conglomerate, with fifty-one hospitals generating approximately $20 billion in annual revenue. It is one of the largest health systems in the United States and the largest in the state of Oregon. The Providence strike is part of a wave of union activity in healthcare across the country, as monopolies increase their attacks on workers rights amid the current economic crisis, including attacks on the right to healthcare.
Image: Striking Providence nurses, Oregon Nurses Association web media
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