Largest Healthcare Strike and First Physicians Strike in Oregon History to Begin January 10

11 Providence bargaining units from 8 hospitals and 6 clinics, including physicians, issue 10-day strike notice to Providence Oregon

WHAT: After a week of intensive bargaining followed by a 5-day cooling off period and additional mediated discussions, physicians, nurses, physician associates, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners (among others) delivered a 10-day notice to Providence management of their intent to strike. The notice informed management that the nearly 5,000 frontline healthcare workers intend to begin their open-ended strike on January 10, 2025, at 7:00 a.m.

The frontline caregivers are from Providence Portland, Seaside, St. Vincent, Providence Women’s Clinic, Milwaukie, Willamette Falls, Medford, Newberg, and Hood River along with physicians and advanced practice providers at Providence St. Vincent, represented by the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA) and serviced by ONA.

WHO: Doctors and nurses from Providence Oregon facilities.

WHY: Providence is a $30 billion corporation whose top executives make million-dollar salaries and are too focused on profits and not enough on high-quality patient care. Providence’s outgoing CEO made more than $12,000,000 in 2024. The corporatization of healthcare has left many Providence employees frustrated and burnt out as they are being told to spend less and less time with patients and more time trying to drive up profits.

From dangerous practices like understaffing critical care units and emergency rooms that delay care and endanger patients, Providence has ignored its responsibilities to its workers, its patients, and to Oregonians. Healthcare workers are asking Providence to invest more in patient safety, stop cuts to healthcare, follow the Safe Staffing law, and offer regionally competitive wages and benefits to be able to recruit and retain more staff.

When intensive negotiations facilitated by federal mediators began on Dec. 16, union-represented healthcare workers were hopeful that fair contracts would be on the table, but over the course of the week it became clear that hospital management was not interested in responding to their concerns with serious proposals.  While Providence claims that a strike is “premature,” thousands of caregivers have been waiting for more than a year for their employer to come to the table with a fair offer and many have been working without contracts.

ONA members remain 100% committed to bargaining for a fair contract at any time, including during the 10-day strike notice period and during a strike. In the past, Providence has refused to negotiate after a 10-day notice has been sent unlike other health systems. If they continue this unreasonable practice, there will be no way to avert the strike.

The reasons for the strike:

- Providence has failed to make necessary investments in patient care and the communities they serve.
- Providence hospitals are dangerously understaffed, and Providence needs to make investments in safe staffing so patients can have more time with their frontline caregivers. Competitive wages and benefits: In regions across Oregon, Providence remains behind other hospitals in offering competitive wages and benefits which makes it difficult to recruit and retain staff.

- Employee healthcare: Providence offers their employees healthcare plans that are far worse than other healthcare systems with some Providence employees having to pay $5,000 out of pocket to receive services at the place they work.

- Multiple unfair labor practices filed against Providence: refusal to bargain, bargaining in bad faith, unilateral implementation of mandatory subjects, denial of access to employee representatives, and retaliation against union leaders.

Community members can visit OregonRN.org/patientsbeforeprofits to learn more about ongoing negotiations, support striking frontline caregivers, sign a community petition to urge Providence to continue negotiations, and get information about the impact of the strike.

Specifics on the facilities where strikes will begin on January 10, the number of represented members, and their recent bargaining history:

Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, Hood River, OR