WILSONVILLE, Ore. — The Oregon Nurses Association announced Friday that more than 3,000 of its members will hold a three-day strike against Providence Health & Services, starting at 6 a.m. June 18. ONA delivered the legally required 10-day advance notice Friday afternoon to the Providence St. Vincent, Newberg, Willamette Falls, Medford, Hood River and Milwaukie facilities.
In a message sent to staff after the notice, Providence Oregon chief executive Jennifer Burrows said there will be replacement workers in place to keep each facility open for the duration of the strike.
The strike comes after more than six months of contract bargaining between Providence and the unions at each facility, including three days of federal mediation sessions earlier this week. The nurses voted in late May to authorize the strike, which will be the largest of its kind in the state's history, according to ONA Executive Director Anne Tan Piazza.
"A strike is a very, very, very serious action. It is an action that ONA and our nurses at Providence would never take lightly," she said at a news conference on Friday.
Nurses from multiple bargaining units spoke at the news conference, saying that their main sticking points are wages, health care benefits and staffing levels. Several of them accused Providence of attempting to subvert Oregon's recently enacted minimum staffing level law for hospital nurses.
"We have been clear from the beginning about what our priorities are," said Virginia Smith from the Willamette Falls bargaining unit. "Providence cannot undermine our safe staffing law. Nurses need affordable and quality health care, and we need market-competitive wages so that we can retain the many talented nurses that we have, and recruit more to cover the many open shifts that we have every day.
Denise Arnold from the Newberg unit said that when the bargaining team was told they were being "selfish" and not "team players" when they pressed simply for staffing to remain at current levels.
Jessica Lobell from the St. Vincent bargaining unit singled out health care benefits as a major problem, accusing Providence of offering nurses worse package than those of competing hospitals and those of many Providence patients. She pointed to childbirth as an example, claiming that it costs $10 for Kaiser workers and "thousands" for Providence staff.
Tan Piazza said Providence immediately called off bargaining when it received the strike notice and stated that it would not resume bargaining until the strike is over. She said the union is willing to bargain during the lead-up period and still hope to reach a deal beforehand.
"We are more than disappointed, given that other employers have bargaining during the 10-day notice and have averted strikes," she said. "Our nurses are here today. We are ready to continue bargaining today, and ready to bargain next week."
Burrows confirmed the decision to pause bargaining in her message, stating that Providence warned ONA in advance that it would need to prioritize patient care and organizing replacement workers in the lead-up to any potential strike. She also disputed the union's claims that bargaining had stalled.
"This decision is not a surprise — however, it does sadden me both personally and, as a fellow nurse, professionally," she wrote. "Since we started negotiating with ONA in the fall of 2023, we have made significant progress at the bargaining table for all 6 ministries. We’ve proposed substantial wage increases and contract enhancements that our nurses have requested, including adding language related to our new nurse staffing legislation."
Roughly 1,800 nurses at three other Providence Oregon facilities announced plans for a similar strike almost exactly a year ago, and they ultimately followed through with a five-day strike later in June 2023. Pay and staffing levels were also central issues in the contract dispute that sparked that strike. The nurses eventually reached a deal with Providence in August.