The labor and delivery nurses of 12C have raised staffing concerns for years over inadequate staffing. They fought for a staffing plan that adheres to AWHON guidelines and  utilizes a proper acuity tool to determine appropriate staffing. After months of collecting  data, 12C nurses presented to OHSU’s top management including Jane Russell and CEO, John Hunter,asserting that OHSU was violating the staffing law, and they had the data to prove it. During that meeting, one nurse in particular spoke up about staffing and advocated for  Jane Russell to allow 12C staff to voice their concerns. Soon after, that nurse also objected to Director, Molly Blaser, telling her in a one-on-one conversation that as Charge, she should be sending nurses home and staffing with a “fiscal lense.” The nurses objected and told Blaser that budget was not a basis to understaff.  In response, rather than substantively addressing the staffing issues on 12C, OHSU attempted to silence its nurses. The nurse who spoke up and advocated for other nurses was soon called in to discuss her “tone” and  was read the management rights clause, which included a statement that OHSU had the right to discipline employees, ignoring contract provisions requiring just cause for discipline.  
 
In response, ONA filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the State of Oregon. This week, in a recommended order, an administrative law judge found that OHSU managers committed an unfair labor practice (ULP) when they called the nurse in for a meeting to discuss the nurse’s “tone”. In particular, CNO, Jane Russell and Director, Molly Blaser interfered with the nurse’s exercise of her rights to speak out on staffing. The Administrative Law Judge found: 
 
 "As detailed above, MC was summoned to a meeting with CNO Russell to discuss the tone of her communication during the September 22, 2022, UBNPC meeting and in the September 28, 2022, email exchange between MC and Director Blaser. Those communications concerned contractual staffing standards and were therefore protected activity. Based on an examination of the record as a whole, we are not persuaded that the purpose of the meeting was to help MC become a more effective communicator, or that Russell would have taken the same action absent MC’s protected advocacy. The record does not establish that CNO Russell has taken a similar interest in the communication style of other nurses, or that calling an employee into a meeting with the CNO and a HR Representative is a routine response to discourteous communication. We conclude that MC was summoned to the meeting because of, and in response to, her protected activity. 
. . . 
 
Given this context, a reasonable interpretation is not, as OHSU suggests, that the meeting was called to have a conversation about improving MC’s communication skills, but rather, that it was a veiled threat that MC should tone down her advocacy or face future discipline. 
. . .  

Because we have found that OHSU violated ORS 243.672(1)(a), we order OHSU to cease and desist from engaging in that unlawful conduct."
 
In addition, an arbitrator has now vindicated the nurses’ staffing concerns in a separate decision. These same nurses led the charge to have OHSU found in violation of the collective bargaining agreement’s requirement that the employer follow its staffing plans. After several days of hearing and testimony from many of the 12C nurses, the arbitrator concluded that OHSU was in fact not staffing appropriately according to AWHONN standards. The arbitrator found “that appropriate staffing was not being maintained in February and March of 2021”, and  ordered that “OHSU is directed to provide baseline staffing sufficient to implement the Unit 12C Labor and Delivery staffing plan including during timely meals and breaks.” The arbitrator will retain jurisdiction to ensure that OHSU complies with this order.  
 
The nurses of 12C Labor & Delivery stood their ground and fought for the staffing levels that they know their patients deserve! Despite best efforts to intimidate them into giving up, they remained united and proved that OHSU was violating the staffing law. When We Fight, We Win!!! 

After a series of marathon bargaining sessions, we have reached a historic tentative agreement! This tentative agreement is only as strong as it is because of the strength and solidarity of nurses! We have achieved historic gains on safety, staffing, retention, compensation, and much more. Be sure to calculate your own personal increases to compensation here: 

Compensation TA Calculator
 
Ratification Voting
AURN will hold our ratification vote from Sunday, October 1 to Thursday, October 5. It will be on the same electronic platform we used for our strike authorization vote. Only AURN members can participate in this vote. If you are not a member and want to vote, please sign and submit your membership form here. Your Bargaining Team is recommending nurses vote “Yes” to ratify this historic tentative agreement! 


Ratification Member Meetings 
Additionally, your AURN Bargaining Team and staff will be hosting Ratification Member Meetings to answer questions. They will take place virtually on Friday, Sept 29; Saturday, Sept 30; and Sunday, October 1. More details and Zoom links will be found in the upcoming meeting flier. 

We will issue a full article by article summary, and the redline agreement (complete text of union contract & all MOUs with all changes shown). We hope you will take time to review and ask any needed questions before voting opens on Sunday.  


Tentative Agreement Highlights
We are excited to share about so many huge gains!

Legacy Merger

• We have secured the right to reopen all impacted articles during the Legacy merger with the right to strike if we can't reach agreement.
  

Retro Pay

• We have secured retro pay (15% of gross wages from July 1 until the new contract starts, those on ofla/fmla can request pay after returning from leave). 
  

Staffing

• We have guaranteed staffing grids for our Emergency Departments now printed in our CBA. We have 1:3 for Acute Care IMC mix ratio enshrined in our contract. We have all external professional standards for staffing for all other areas required to be followed. While we are waiting for the new staffing law to have an impact in 2025, OHSU is not allowed to make staffing worse at OHSU.  
• Staffing cannot be decreased between ratification and June 1, 2024.
• Acuity and intensity tools must be agreed on by UBNPC consensus. If there isn’t consensus, it will be decided by 50%+1 vote of nurses on the unit. And then must be approved by the Hospital Staffing Committee.
• They are required to give paid release time for all UBNPC members to work on staffing plans until the plan is in compliance.
• No more buddy breaking! All nurses will get full uninterrupted meals and breaks and the proper coverage to do so. Break relief hours (additional FTE) will be provided to cover breaks.
• Break Relief Assignments will be created with no additional assigned duties. UBNPC will design break coverage plans with enough allocated hours to cover all legally required meals and breaks without violation of staffing plans or grids. The same quality of patient care will be provided during breaks.
• Proper coverage of lactation breaks will be provided and extended time for lactation.
• Ambulatory staffing will be improved! Creation of UBNPCs in all ambulatory areas, and they will all get paid release time during work hours to create and pass staffing plans. There will be a special ambulatory subcommittee of the hospital staffing committee. And the UBNPC’s will make recommendations on changes to baseline FTE to get appropriate levels of staffing for all ambulatory units.
• Our Hospital Staffing Committee chair will have a 0.3 FTE to make sure our staffing committee can be successful and to assist UBNPCs to improve staffing hospital wide. Increase in work hours for the rest of the UBNPCs and the entire staffing committee as well.
  

Workplace Safety

• Expansion of Code Green! More social workers are being hired to help better staff the team and help with weekends and evenings, and a modified code green team located at the waterfront
• Nurses will not be doing pat downs/wanding. Security staff and other trained OHSU staff will screen all patients, visitors and their belongings every time they enter the ED, including those that arrive by EMS.
• There will be 24/7 staffing in the ED for metal detector screenings.
• DPS will be physically present in the ED 24/7 except where officer discretion dictates an urgent response elsewhere. DPS is currently hiring 9 more officers which will increase coverage.
• In person self defense training
• AURN and AFSCME will get 50% of the positions on a task force that will decide how to allocate $10 million dollars in improvements to workplace safety.
• An additional taskforce to assess ALL locations that OHSU nurses work to improve notification and lockdown procedures for all nurses
• Paid training for trauma informed care, crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques
• Workplace safety committees shall have access to OSHA workplace violence logs and records, Dept of Public Safety reports, worker and student injury records. UBNPC’s still have access to review PSIs and share trends with workplace safety committees.
• UBNPCs can request assessments of their unit to prevent workplace violence.
• Direct care nurses will have a voice in remodeling and building of new buildings to assess safe patient handling and workplace violence prevention opportunities
• Guaranteed Suicide Prevention Program (that was discontinued), including a trauma informed care program provided to nurses experiencing trauma at work.
• Locking cabinets in all units and in each acute care adult inpatient room to better protect staff and patients when safety concerns exist to be able to secure belongings.
  

Wages and Compensation

• Our wages will be the highest among all of AFT Healthcare, and possibly top ten in the country with the average base wage at $75.24 and $156,500 annually. With differentials the average is $81.08, and $168,650.
  • Wages increase 15% year 1; 6% year 2; 6% year 3 and creation of a new 30 step scale to replace the current 10 step scale
  • Night Shift Diff will be 12.5% year 1, 12.5% year 2, 13% year 3 for all hours worked (used to only be part of the shift)
  • Evening shift increase to $3/hr
  • Certification increase to $2.50/hr in 2025
  • Call PAY: $8.00/hr for call hours 0-35.99; $10.00/hr 36-59.99; $12.00/hr 60+ 
  • $6/hr Unit Staffing Stabilization Differential for Adult/Pediatric EDs and PICU
  • Specialty Float Pool increased to $9/hr
  • Retro Pay 15% on gross wages (and for those on approved absences)
    
• We created a special assessment and $6/hr crisis differential designation for units that are in collapse due to attrition to help them recover. After ratification the PICU and Adult/Ped EDs will be temporarily designated. 
• We made permanent our $46/hr shift incentive ($500/12 hr shift) for every extra shift work beyond FTE permanently for the life of the contract. This includes Resource Nurses after working 40 hours in 2 weeks (curtailment does not remove eligibility). 

Other Big Wins!

• We, along with our union siblings at OHSU, forced management to go out to bid on MODA (management’s own self insured healthcare plan). There's expansion of mental healthcare providers and pediatric mental health providers in our tier one and a guarantee on a suicide prevention program.  
• We've eliminated racist/sexist policies that stopped new hires from being able to file discrimination grievances and created a JEDI fund our nurses get to give our grants for JEDI work at OHSU.  
• We can file a grievance if management incorrectly uses Mandatory Call for baseline staffing in multiple units.
• In-person NEOs will return, labor reps are getting badge access to round the hospital to assist nurses.  
• We've enshrined our temporary Covid MOU into the union contract to be prepared for future pandemics and get to audit PPE supplies.  
• We have a brand new article for Remote Work and one for Home Infusion Nurses with all new protections.
• We've created a new Pivot Nurse role and Split Positions to allow greater flexibility for nurses to remain bedside in ways that fit their mental health and their families outside work.   
• We created two new speciality float pools (one for Maternal Newborn units and one for Oncology Float Pool)
• Management cannot bring in an international travel nursing group without full 150 days of bargaining with us.

There is so much more in this contract, and we're excited for you all to learn more soon!