(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Mental and behavioral health professionals at Legacy’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health–Portland’s psychiatric emergency hospital–overwhelmingly won their union election August 23. Following months of organizing, more than 95 percent of voters chose to unionize with the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) to raise patient care standards, improve staffing and safety, gain a voice in health care decisions, and ensure equitable pay for frontline mental health workers.
The 62 crisis intervention specialists, counselors, therapists, and social workers at Unity Center are the latest group in the Legacy Health system to unionize with ONA, joining nearly 700 ONA-represented nurses at Unity Center, Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham, and Legacy Silverton Medical Center.
“Supporting people experiencing a mental health crisis in a compassionate, caring way is more than just a job. A union will help us advocate for and provide the highest quality patient care by ensuring we are part of the decision-making process,” said Holly Friesz, a crisis intervention specialist at Unity Center. “Unionizing will allow us to bargain for better working conditions in order to improve patient care.”
Legacy’s Unity Center is a 24-hour behavioral and mental health services center offering inpatient mental health treatment and psychiatric emergency services. Despite numerous challenges ranging from short staffing; an increase in patients; a longstanding lack of beds, services and investment in mental and behavioral health at the state and health system levels; and the ongoing effects of COVID-19, mental and behavioral health professionals at Unity Center have provided high-quality, trauma-informed, multidisciplinary psychiatric treatment to Oregon’s most vulnerable adults and adolescents since 2017.
The group will advocate for better patient-to-worker ratios to allow more Oregonians in crisis to receive comprehensive mental, behavioral and addiction care. Frontline mental health care professionals look forward to helping turn the page at Unity Center and holding Legacy’s leadership accountable to professional health care standards in order to improve outcomes for Oregonians in crisis.
“Forming a union helps us reach goals like safety, retention, and access to education, together. The union isn’t some faceless third party organization. The union is us, organized,” said Ryen Mcgrath, a clinical therapist lead at Unity Center.
The new bargaining unit will now move to elect officers and a bargaining team to begin negotiating a first contract with Legacy management.
Legacy Health is a private nonprofit health system which operates six hospitals and more than 70 clinics in Oregon and Washington. It recently made news after unlawfully attempting to close the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mt. Hood, the horrific acts of violence in the workplace at Legacy Good Samaritan, and its announced intent to merge with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
During the pandemic, Legacy collected more than $400 million in profits between 2020-2022 including nearly $100 million in taxpayer bailouts via the CARES Act. Prior to 2020, Legacy’s hospital profits averaged between $44 million to $79 million per year. Legacy also owns a significant $1 billion + investment portfolio.
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 16,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit:
www.OregonRN.org.
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