Roughly 5,000 nurses, hospitalists and other frontline health workers at Providence hospitals and clinics across Oregon are set to go on an open-ended strike starting Jan. 10.
The strike — which would be the largest among health workers in Oregon history — could hobble one of the state’s largest health care systems, and its impact could ripple across the region as patients seek care elsewhere.
While Providence has weathered nurses strikes as recently as this summer, the impending strike would also be the first to include about 70 Providence St. Vincent Medical Center physicians from a rare and recently formed hospitalists union.
The Oregon Nurses Association, which represents nurses and other health care professionals at the Catholic nonprofit health system, announced the strike plan Monday. Health workers are required to give 10 days notice before beginning a strike.
The strike would include Providence Portland, Providence St. Vincent near Beaverton, Providence Milwaukie, Providence Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Providence Hood River, Providence Newberg, Providence Seaside, Providence Medford, and six Providence women’s clinics.
The union said the strike warning comes after workers and Providence failed to reach an agreement following months of bargaining.
Most of the health care workers authorized a strike back in October and November, while nurses at Providence Seaside and Providence Medford gave their go-ahead earlier this month.
Employees say concerns range from wage increases and staffing levels to overall working conditions. These issues grew especially urgent during the pandemic era, which underscored systemic challenges for frontline health care professionals statewide, and have remained prominent amid persistent staffing shortages.
In a statement, Providence Oregon CEO Jennifer Burrows blamed the union for the lack of progress in bargaining talks, claiming union negotiators were unwilling to compromise and sent conflicting signals in response to the health system’s proposals.
“We have been transparent with union leaders that in the event of a work stoppage, bargaining stops to support our priority of ensuring we continue to provide excellent patient care,” Burrows said. “Our leadership teams’ attention will turn to caring for our community during this work stoppage.”
Burrows stated that Providence has “secured replacement workers and identified other strategies to help us care for our patients.” She added that workers who choose not to strike are welcome to work and would receive guidance on how to report for their shifts.
Replacement workers likely come at great expense to Providence. Hospitals in Oregon and across the nation have depended on traveling nurses to address a staff shortage, paying a premium that has been a drag on their financial performance.
The participation of hospitalists and palliative care physicians at St. Vincent, as well as doctors at six Providence women’s clinics, complicate the health care chain’s response, said Dr. Raymond Moreno, chief medical officer at Providence St. Vincent.
“Unlike with nursing, where there’s experience with replacement workers, there is not a ready made replacement workforce for physicians,” Moreno said. “So we’ve been thinking how we can fill in if all our hospitalists don’t come to work, and we have some contingency plans for that and will likely have to make some adjustments.”
Moreno said Providence might postpone some procedures or temporarily transfer some physicians from other Providence hospitals to work at St. Vincent and the women’s clinics.
He said Providence can also work with other hospitals in the region, including Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Health and Kaiser Permanente, to transfer patients into their care if needed.
Moreno said there were 456 patients at St. Vincent as of Monday and Providence is focused on preparing for how to care for those patients when the strike begins on Jan. 10.
Union leaders say they remain open to further discussions and a strike could be averted if the two parties came to an agreement.
Negotiators remain at odds over a number of issues, from pay and benefits to scheduling practices and staffing levels.
Jay Formick, a registered nurse at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City, said nurses at his hospital, as well as at St. Vincent, Hood River, Milwaukie, Willamette Falls and Newberg, have been in negotiations with Providence since the fall of 2023.
“We have been struggling with Providence for over a year to find agreement on issues such as safe staffing, health coverage for nurses and coming to terms on a reasonable cost of living adjustment,” said Formick, who’s on the bargaining team for Providence Willamette Falls. “All offers that have been made to my bargaining unit have kept nurses at a lower level of compensation, both in terms of salary and health benefits, lower than the top of the market.”
Formick said nurses have left Providence for other health systems in the area, like Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Health and Kaiser Permanente. He said more nurses in recent years have also left the bedside to work in case management positions with health insurance companies, or as legal nurse consultants for law firms.
Some 3,000 nurses from Portland-area Providence hospitals held a brief strike in June that ended without an agreement.
A year earlier, over 1,300 nurses at Providence Portland and several hundred nurses at Providence Seaside held a five-day strike. While they secured a new contract agreement weeks later, with wage increases of 17% to 26% over two years and other concessions, the contracts expire Dec. 31.
Meanwhile, the 70 St. Vincent hospitalists represented by the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association have been negotiating their first contract with Providence since January. They voted to unionize last year.
— Kristine de Leon covers consumer health, retail, small business and data enterprise stories. Reach her at [email protected].
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