Nurses at two Providence Health hospitals in the Portland, Oregon, area voted to go on strike due to alleged unfair labor practices and staffing standards that have fueled a major crisis, a local union said.
The nurses with the Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Providence Wilamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City voted to strike, the Oregon Nurses Association announced Thursday. The decision comes a few weeks after nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland also voted to strike, but a date on when a strike could begin remains unclear.
“Providence isn’t taking patient or nurse safety seriously,” said Virginia Smith, a registered nurse and Oregon Nurses Association president at Willamette Falls Medical Center, in a statement.
Smith said that for the last six months the hospital system has "forced nurses at my hospital to work without a contract when all we’re asking for are basic safety standards we need to protect our patients, our coworkers and families.”
The union wants a series of new safety standards to be put in place, including stronger patient safety standards to reduce future outbreaks of COVID-19. The group also wants a “fair compensation package that allows hospitals to recruit and retain the skilled frontline caregivers our communities need to stay healthy and safe,” the release said.
The union added that Providence allowed contracts at the three hospitals which are striking to expire last year.
It remains unclear whether the nurses will go on strike.
“[Oregon Nurses Association] nurses are leading site meetings to begin preparing for strikes and working to determine strike dates,” the union said. “When strikes are called ONA will give Providence a 10-day notice to allow management adequate time to cease admissions and transfer patients or to reach a fair agreement with nurses and avert a work stoppage.”
Providence said in a statement that it was disappointed by the strike authorization vote but is eager to engage in talks with the union.
“Since contracts are settled at the bargaining table, we encourage the union to avoid a costly strike for our nurses,” the system said. “It’s important to note that if an actual strike is called at any of Providence’s Portland-area hospitals, we will turn all of our attention to preparing to serve our patients and return to negotiations after the strike.”
The strike votes are the latest labor strife to affect the hospital industry. Nurses' unions have complained that since the onset of the pandemic hospitals have cut corners on their safety, including requirements to reprocess one-use personal protective equipment such as N-95 masks.
Nurses have also complained about inadequate staffing standards.
At the same time, hospital systems have faced major spikes in costs for contract labor.
Hospital systems aren’t just facing pushback from nursing unions. Cedars-Sinai reached a three-year contract with a union representing transporters, surgical and food service technicians and other positions. The union had launched a five-day strike earlier this year.