Hospital doctors within Providence St. Vincent Medical Center were among the few striking workers who approved a contract deal over the weekend as one of the largest medical strikes in Oregon history continued.
Dr. Jahnavi Chandrashekar, an internist at Providence St. Vincent, called the contract an “historic win” for the more than 70 physicians who have been on strike for a month. The deal was announced Saturday afternoon and is a first union contract for that bargaining unit, according to the Oregon Nurses Association.
“We will have safer staffing, be able to better recruit and retain hospitalists, and can spend more time with our patients,” Chandrashekar said in a statement.
The St. Vincent deal included wage increases, rules around sick time usage and guidelines to help manage high patient volume.
For its part, Providence issued only a brief statement, saying it was “pleased” the St. Vincent physicians approved their contract.
The deal was a small piece of a much larger labor action that’s been ongoing across Oregon since Jan. 10 and involves around 5,000 health care workers and nurses at Providence facilities.
That strike appeared to be moving toward a resolution Tuesday as the Oregon Nurses Association announced tentative agreements had been reached for a majority of the bargaining units. By Friday, nurses at seven Providence facilities voted to reject the deals.
The deal included pay increases, a 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, according to the nurses’ union. It also enshrined language from a state law mandating nurse-to-patient ratios into worker contracts.
The nurses union said it delivered the proposed contract to its members out of a “commitment to transparency.” Front-line nurses, according to the union, gave a resounding rejection of the offer.
Union officials said they were forced to compromise on key issues. The deal did not include retroactive pay for the time nurses spent working without a contract. It also left current contract expiration dates unchanged after the union had attempted to align negotiations for all bargaining units to make them simultaneous.
By Saturday evening, nurses at Medford Medical Center also had rejected the deal.
In a statement Saturday, Providence pushed back on the unionized workers' claims that compensation packages were below market competition and that staffing would be inadequate, calling both assertions “false.” Providence said registered nurse turnover at its Oregon hospitals is at its lowest level in three years, and it has a vacancy job rate of 5.74%.
The nonprofit health care system said it is now considering its next steps and is speaking to federal mediators about when bargaining may resume.
The deals, and their subsequent collapse, came after Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek urged both sides to resume in-person talks in late January.
Monday will mark 32 days since the strike began.
Source: opb.org
