Our AURN bargaining team met with OHSU administration for our fifth bargaining session on Jan. 25 at the OHSU waterfront. We were excited to have observers present from 9K, NICU, Labor and Delivery, and other departments. Having observers attend encourages management to treat us better at the bargaining table and applies pressure to take our proposals seriously. We encourage you to help pack the room at the next bargaining session on February 1 at the ONA office in Tualatin (18765 SW Boones Ferry Road, 3rd floor) at 9:30 a.m. We will be making one of our most important proposals—addressing workplace violence prevention. You are welcome to stay as long as you are able. We would love your support to show management how incredibly important preventing workplace violence is to our entire community. If you have a story you might be willing to share please email aurnlaborreps@oregonrn.org.

At bargaining, the biggest win of the day was management responding that they are open to a guarantee for nurses to transfer within 90 days after a new position is awarded. No more waiting six months to transfer to the position that you were offered once we reach an agreement! We are hopeful further negotiation can reach an agreement on this. The administration did add language saying that the nurse and the manager could mutually agree to a longer extension.

Nico Parkes-Perret shared his relief to hear this news. He stated, “When I was held far too long in my old position, it risked my entire career as a nurse; it didn’t serve me as a nurse, and it didn’t serve OHSU as an institution.” Read more about Nico’s story on our blog.

Overall, negotiations today involved helpful discussion that was productive and respectful. Today’s progress was made possible because of every AURN member who has gotten involved so far!

SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS:
We started the day by opening Article 6-Employment Practices. We made several proposed improvements for a discrimination-free workplace, by expanding what discrimination is and improving the remediation processes across the board for being mistreated and/or discriminated against. We also proposed stronger language related to what the pay codes mean on your paycheck, the consequences for underpayments, proper notice for position description changes, and improvements to the discipline process.

We also opened articles 15-Leaves of Absence and 19-Seniority. We proposed clarifying language for jury duty so one isn’t required to work another day to make up a missed shift nor would the absence count as an occurrence. Updates were made to the military leave and Peace Corps section for clarity.

We also proposed a new section for domestic violence leave, mirroring state law in hopes to raise awareness to this important issue. We are hopeful this might reach more nurses who are unaware of the strong workplace protections under our state law given to those experiencing domestic violence.

Management responded to our out of state licensure proposal by only including Washington licenses initially and not in future years. They also gave counter proposals to our transition to practice (TTP) proposal, and they gave us proposals on Article 19-Posting and Filling of Positions and Article 14-Sick Leave. Later in the day, they gave us another interim proposal about L&D call requirements that would help support these nurses to get something in place while we negotiate a more long-term plan.

At the end of the bargaining session, there was discussion about the amount of curtailment that the Connected Care Center nurses have received, despite these nurses not noticing a decline in the total call volume they receive. We are concerned about these nurses being told to work in person to make up those hours without management bargaining over that significant change in working conditions. We will need further discussion about this important issue and reiterated to management the need for proper notice, collaboration, and discussion over major changes in our workplace.