Nurses at eight hospitals will vote on whether to approve the deal. Some say they’re not happy with it.
The Oregon Nurses Association announced late Tuesday evening it had reached a tentative deal with Providence to end one of the largest health care strikes in state history.
The proposed deal came after 26 days on picket lines at various Providence facilities stretching from Medford to Portland, and Seaside to Hood River.
Both sides have been in mediation talks urged by Gov. Tina Kotek since last week. Tuesday’s deal applies to nearly all the bargaining units that had joined the strike. One group of unionized doctors working at St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland still have not reached an agreement on their contract.
According to the nurses association, the deal reached includes pay increases, a pay bonus to make up for some of the lost work during the strike, a one-hour pay penalty for nurses if they work through a break or lunch period, and the establishment of a workgroup to look at health insurance provided to the nurses at Providence’s hospitals. The tentative deal would also enshrine language from a state law mandating nurse-to-patient ratios into worker contracts.
The union said it had compromised on two of its longstanding priorities.
If the deal is approved, nurses will not receive their pay raises retroactively, a sticking point for some who felt that Providence had used delay tactics earlier in contract negotiations as a way to save money.
Instead, nurses will receive a ratification bonus based on the hours they have worked since their contract expired.
The union had also tried to change the expiration dates of the contracts it was bargaining. The aim was to have future contracts open at multiple hospitals at once, a move that would increase the union’s bargaining power. Instead, the proposed deal leaves the current contract expiration dates unchanged across Providence’s hospitals.
Union members will vote on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on whether to ratify the deal or continue striking. In the meantime, they are continuing the strike action outside Providence’s hospitals.
There were around 100 nurses picketing outside St. Vincent Medical Center in Cedar Hills Wednesday. Dozens of them told OPB they felt Providence was offering them too little.
“My vote is a no,” said Kristine Loudd, a neonatal ICU nurse at St. Vincent. She said the ratification bonus Providence has offered is far less than the retroactive pay she wants for the months St. Vincent’s nurses spent working without a contract. “It’s the money that’s owed to me that I worked for, over the past 13 months now.”
Next to Loudd on the sidewalk, nurse Kami Hanchett, a neonatal ICU nurse at Providence Portland, said she is also a “no” vote. The tentative agreement, she said, does not include a guarantee that Providence will adjust nurses-to-patient ratios to take into account the added time nurses spend with their sickest patients.
“They want to interpret it as they see fit, which means to give as many patients as possible to each nurse, so they don’t have to hire more,” Hanchett said. “I can’t do a good job when I have too many patients.”
Each of the eight Providence bargaining units will hold a separate vote on the tentative agreement, so the deal could potentially win approval at some Providence hospitals but not others.
Tuesday’s proposed resolution follows a late Sunday deal between Providence and a smaller group of striking doctors, midwives, and nurses at the Catholic nonprofit’s women’s clinic. The providers at the women’s clinic have ratified their agreement, and will return to work starting Thursday.
The Oregon Nurses Association said in a statement that its members would remain on strike as the tentative deal is being voted on by members on Thursday and Friday. If that deal gets a thumbs up from health care providers, staff will immediately return to work.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.