After more than a month, we were back at the bargaining table! It was a big day for AURN/ONA Nurses: Management presented their economic proposal after we gave them ours a month ago. The bargaining room was standing room only—we had to add an overflow room to accommodate everyone and not violate fire code.

As they presented their economic proposals, management clearly saw how important these negotiations are to our members. We had the biggest moment of negotiations so far: our members presented management a petition signed by nearly 2300 nurses in support of our bargaining team and our bargaining priorities!

After CFO Lawrence Furnstahl gave us his economic presentation, our Communications Chair Grant Jacobsen presented our bargaining platform petition to management.

“It felt empowering and humbling to represent more than 2300 nurses as we strive for safe staffing, better working conditions and proper compensation in our contract.” Grant Jacobsen, CHH Surgery Center and AURN Communications Chair.

Lawrence Furnstahl, OHSU’S Chief Financial Officer, presented their financial status and forecast. He reported $4 billion in revenue with a $90 million loss for fiscal year 2022, due to losing $95 million in the stock market and spending $89+ million on travelers. This is after gaining billions on the stock market in prior years. And he reported this was offset due to federal and state aid. OHSU management’s financial strategy is to continuously grow its stock of licensed beds and construct more medical buildings. According to Furnstahl’s latest report to OHSU’s Board of Directors, “Year-to-date revenues are 13.9% above prior year, with net patient revenues up 12.6%” and that OHSU’s net worth has increased 10% since the start of COVID. While small hospitals in Oregon faced possible closures, after the pandemic OHSU came out ahead having made billions.

When we proposed to be caught up with our true peers, management only considered “hospitals in driving distance.” We are a Level 1 Trauma Research Institution and should be treated as such.

Management offered the following wage proposal:

• 6% for 2023, 3% for 2024, 3% for 2025 (total: 12%)
  o Providence management’s current wage proposal to their nurses is 8-14% in 2023, 2.5% in 2024, and 3% in 2025 (total: 19.5%)
  o St. Charles Bend management’s current wage proposal to their nurses is upwards of 21%.
  

Management informed us they were “coming in with the majority of their authority” with this initial offer, explaining they had little room for increase. Read management’s economic summary.

Due to the state of Oregon having the least number of beds in the country, OHSU is expanding dramatically with a massive new tower adding 128 new beds - it’s a $690 million project, where they borrowed half of the money. The other half came from their own assets. AURN is concerned OHSU is massively expanding operations when it cannot staff its current beds. Your bargaining team remains committed to holding OHSU management accountable to investing in the retention and recruitment of nurses. OHSU’s current economic offer fails to do just that.

We asked management if they are making any other acquisitions, major purchases, mergers or anything else that would financially impact us and they stated no. We asked management if they had budgeted for strike breakers and they stated that they have a contingency committee that has to plan for all scenarios but would not share how much they have budgeted. They claimed they are not contracting with any strike breaking travel agency and that managers absolutely should not be approaching our current travelers to ask them to be strike breakers. If anyone hears of this happening, please share with aurnlaborreps@oregonrn.org.

“We are not problems to be solved. We are partners in the modernization of healthcare delivery. And we are speaking.” Lace Velk, CHH Paranesthesia and Staffing Committee Member.

A special shout-out to our Unit Reps and Contract Action Team (CAT) members who worked tirelessly to make sure every AURN nurse at OHSU knew about negotiations and had the chance to sign our bargaining petition. Not only talking with nurses in their own units but visiting units all across the hospital. Our ability to win a strong contract depends on our efforts to unite around our values recruitment, retention, quality staffing, and safety. You can help us build an even stronger union and contract campaign by joining our CAT and emailing your Labor Representative at AURNLaborReps@oregonrn.org!

Our ONA President Tamie Cline and Director of Labor and Organizing Jim Bakken joined to support us in Wednesday’s bargaining. Tamie stated to management how hard all of us have worked through the pandemic and that the 16,000 healthcare workers represented by ONA are all standing behind us for a fair contract.

Oregon clearly needs more hospital beds, but building an empty, unstaffed tower doesn’t address the crisis our state is facing. When asked about how they were going to staff all those new beds and continue to increase the number of patients we serve, management responded that they clearly need to invest in nursing. But then during negotiations, management stated that our proposals cost too much and that “we’re not going to get anywhere near that to reach an agreement.”

Since management presented their economic offer, we have heard your frustration and disappointment. We know that we aren’t being valued enough to keep up with inflation, let alone catch up with our peers. This is not acceptable, and we are committed to standing strong until we win a fair contract!

Next Steps to Win a Strong Contract:
· Please wear your AURN T-shirts and attend the OHSU Board of Directors meeting April 19, 1-5 p.m. More details are available at this link and check it often in case the date/time/location change: https://www.ohsu.edu/about/board-directors

· Save the Date: May 8th is the Statewide Day of Action for Nurses Week with an event at OHSU. Details coming soon!

· Remember to keep wearing AURN purple and green on Wednesdays, and blue on Tuesdays to show support for the OHSU Graduate Research Union who are also in negotiations.

· Join one of our committees to plan our next actions using our consent to serve form http://oregonrn.org/ohsu-cts: Contract Action Team, Unit Rep, Communications Committee, Membership Committee, Grievances Committee

· Pack the room at our upcoming negotiations:
4/26 @OHSU
5/3 @ONA
5/10 virtual
5/24 @OHSU
5/31 @ONA
6/7 @OHSU
6/14 @ONA
6/21 @OHSU