Providence Healthcare is Feeling the Pressure of Large-Scale Oregon Nursing Association Strike
The Providence group wants to return to the bargaining table because it is ‘feeling the pressure’ of the large-scale strike that began on Saturday, says spokesperson for the Oregon Nursing Association (ONA), Peter Starzynski.
The Healthcare Group Wants to Resume Negotiations at Medford and Newberg
On Saturday, the chief executive for Providence Oregon, Jennifer Burrows, announced that more than 600 ONA nurses had elected to return to work. This move has given Providence the opportunity to resume negotiations at two of its eight hospitals – Medford and Newberg.
ONA Has Lodged an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor Relations Board
Apart from ONA launching the biggest-ever strike in the history of Oregon, the nursing association has also lodged an unfair labor practice grievance with the National Labor Relations Board.
The strikers are fighting for better pay and working conditions. They have been in a series of unsuccessful negotiations with Providence that saw many nurses working without contracts for many months.
About 5,000 ONA registered nurses and about 150 practitioners from eight Providence hospitals and six women’s clinics took to the picket line last Friday in the largest strike ever in the history of Oregon.
The following day, Burrows told a Press conference that because 600-odd ONA nurses had decided to return to work, Providence was ready to return to the mediation table.
In the interim, Providence has hired 2,000 temporary nurses and says all its services, including emergency rooms at the hospitals, remain open.
Reacting to the healthcare group’s announcement seeking the resumption of negotiations at two of its hospitals, ONA says excuses and statements made by Providence are ‘inconsistent, contradictory, and disingenuous.’
Starzynski points out Providence is placing pressure on striking nurses to return to work and is distributing leaflets in which workers are told they have the freedom to choose between striking and returning to the workplace.