Save the date!

June 29, 5-8 p.m.

Location: TBA

After our 17th bargaining session in six months, and with only three weeks left until our contract expires, we are disappointed to report that no significant movement has occurred on our top bargaining priorities: 
 
1) staffing
2) retention & recruitment
3) workplace safety
4) justice/equity/diversity/inclusion
5) moral injury
 
We’re glad we made progress on many smaller issues, however, management remains far apart from us on our biggest issues. For this reason, our AURN bargaining team is encouraging all AURN nurses to pledge your support for an informational picket. If the vast majority of AURN nurses make this pledge, our bargaining team will be calling for a picket on June 29 from 5-8 p.m.  

To pledge your support for the picket visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_aFw8vFBfNiSLmPBkknP5bvUsjJA8rfw_FGjUEBoMHc52Aw/viewform

For the side by side, to see where things stand between our last economic counter proposal, and management’s only economic proposal (which they gave in April) visit:  www.oregonrn.org/resource/resmgr/ohsu/AURN_Econ_Barg_SBS_2023-05-2.pdf

For the FAQ about the informational picket visit: https://www.oregonrn.org/resource/resmgr/ohsu/OHSU_Info_Picket_FAQ.pdf 

Summary of June 7 Negotiation Session:
We’re only three weeks away from contract expiration and were disappointed to have only received an opening proposal on economics from management back in April. After expressing this disappointment, we now have an agreement with management and our mediator that next week’s mediation session will be delayed so management can present their economic counter starting at 8 a.m. via Zoom to all AURN members. Please help spread the word to all AURN nurses to watch for the link and tune in next Wednesday, June 14 at 8 a.m.!  

We opened this week’s session by declining OHSU’s staffing proposal. The proposal they presented the week prior would have moved us backward from the current law, which does not allow external benchmarks such as budget goals to determine professional standards of safe care. We are so proud of our staffing committee members who have attended and supported every single bargaining session so far. The unwavering dedication of these nurses to work toward safe staffing at OHSU is the essence of AURN’s staffing proposal, which we have asked management to review and reevaluate their counter. We invited management to review many staffing grievances, the current professional standards, and the thorough testimony we presented back in February. In particular, we encouraged them to reread the parts of our proposal on acuity and intensity, the different levels built into our minimum staffing standards, meals & breaks relief, as well as support for ambulatory/remote staffing. 

Seven different Article proposals were exchanged, and we tentatively agreed to two of them. We are relieved to report that the pressure is working on some items. Management agreed to fully back off their proposal to set default retirement contributions at zero for new nurses, and instead, the default will be 6%. If any nurse wants to change their amount, they can still do that. Additionally, we reached a tentative agreement adding better protections against managers or directors who attempt to move nurses’ positions to other units or otherwise restructure units/departments without properly following the restructuring process. We believe we are very close to a tentative agreement regarding Leaves of Absence, except that management has not agreed to increase Bereavement Leave. Not only are we far behind our peers regarding Bereavement Leave, but nurses deserve proper time to grieve their loved ones, especially when they dedicate their lives to caring for others. 

Lastly, we had an intense conversation regarding grievances and retaliation against AURN unit reps and leaders. On Friday, June 2 an unfair labor practice (ULP) hearing was held with an administrative law judge with witnesses testifying regarding high-level nursing leadership threatening a unit representative by reading aloud their right to discipline and terminate the unit rep. This occurred after the unit rep spoke up about unsafe staffing including a meeting with one of the Vice Presidents of OHSU. AURN would like to be abundantly clear – we will not tolerate retaliation against our members and will hold OHSU accountable. We are awaiting a second ULP hearing for another retaliation case and will be filing further ULPs if needed. We will not allow administrators to retaliate.

While our bargaining team was hard at work on negotiations, we were overwhelmed by the support from nurses all over the hospital who took part in our Rise to Action event as our Contract Action Team was deployed across OHSU to ask folks to pledge to picket. As part of our Rise to Action, Cara Arsenault, a nurse on our AURN Communications Committee, spoke out in support at the AFSCME Rally on the Mac Lawn, sharing with them our same struggle for a fair contract. 

At the end of the day, we gathered at Growler Guys for members, CAT volunteers, bargaining team members and the community to share with one another and make our announcement about our next step in the campaign. Representative Travis Nelson, who has supported our campaign from the beginning, met with us at this event and shared that he was deeply disappointed that no meaningful movement has been made by management in regard to safe staffing. 

Please connect with your contract action team member or unit rep to get the scoop on what we are planning for June 29. We will not be successful in our endeavors without your participation!