Nursing CE Central
Oregon nurses made history earlier this summer when they organized the largest nursing strike in state history.
More than 3,000 practitioners across six Providence hospitals spent multiple days on the picket line in June, bringing attention to concerns about retention and recruitment, wages, benefits, and staffing standards.
Tangible changes have yet to be seen from their efforts, but did prompt one hospital leader to pen an editorial in a local newspaper. The Oregon Nurses Association believes the editorial includes “misrepresentations and misleading claims.”
Reflecting national trends, striking nurses wanted to come to the bargaining table to discuss:
Virginia Smith, RN and ONA executive committee president at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center, said in a news release that the hospital system isn’t taking patient or nurse safety seriously, citing yearslong exposure to high-risk situations and working for six months without a contract.
“Nurses have reached across the aisle in bargaining and Providence has repeatedly slapped our hand away,” Smith said. “We want to work but we need to work to be safe for our patients and our coworkers.”
A statewide hospital staffing law went into effect last September, rolling out patient limits and ratios through July 1, 2026, and providing a method for patients to make staffing complaints. As of Aug. 12, nearly 1,700 complaints had been filed, 314 were under investigation, 77 investigations had been completed, and 29 complaints were substantiated.
Jennifer Burrows, RN and Providence Oregon’s chief executive officer, said in her Portland Tribune editorial that nurses “walked away from generous offers,” which included pay increases. ONA disputes that statement.
Burrows also cited hospital payroll data that shows an average pay rate of $66.94 per hour ($125,303 annually), including “overtime, shift differentials, and other opportunities.” The double-digit raises nurses are requesting would be unsustainable, she wrote.
However, in ONA’s response, Smith wrote that overtime and shift differentials are “compensation for extended and often grueling hours” rather than guaranteed income. Smith also points to Providence’s status as a “nearly $29 billion corporation” with executive salaries upwards of $850,000 as a reason the requested salary increases could be implemented.
When it comes to nurse staffing ratios, Burrows believes the statewide staffing bill will ensure practitioners are not overworked.
Despite ONA’s involvement in the joint management-labor coalition that supported the measure, Smith wrote that nurses still report unsafe staffing levels.
The Providence hospital system hired temporary nurses to care for patients during the strike. But the Northwest Labor Press reported in July that after the three-day strike ended, nurses weren’t allowed to return to work, resulting in continued picketing.
The hospital system “had to guarantee five days of work for replacement nurses, so striking nurses [would] only be invited back as needed,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
ONA gave Providence the legally required 10-day strike notice June 7, “indicating that nurses would unconditionally offer to return to work at 6 a.m. on Friday, June 21.” However, Providence did not plan to invite nurses back until two days later.
As a result, ONA planned to file an unfair labor practice charge against Providence Oregon through the National Labor Relations Board.
Burrows contends in her op-ed that “nothing has changed” for Providence Oregon’s nurses and that only the union has benefitted.
“The union is making nurses wait for their raises while promising them retroactive pay, which Providence’s bargaining teams have made clear will not be part of the packages,” Burrows wrote. “The union is wasting time by making unrealistic and unsustainable demands that Oregonians and their employers can’t afford.”
However, ONA believes the historic strike brought attention to their concerns.
“The strike has galvanized public support and put pressure on Providence to address the systemic problems that led to the walkout in the first place,” Smith wrote.
Oregon nurses held the largest nursing strike in state history in summer 2024, calling for stronger patient safety standards; safe nurse staffing; affordable healthcare and paid leave; and fair compensation packages. The strike against Providence Oregon has yet to yield any results, but more information from both sides of the strike can be found on the ONA and Providence health system websites.
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