(TUALATIN, Ore.) – 1,800 Providence nurses and clinicians represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) were unsurprised by the statement from Providence Health System today, delivered in advance of the limited duration 5-day strike action at Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence Seaside Hospital and Providence Home Health and Hospice beginning June 19, 2023.
Providence has, yet again, completely missed the point.  

Providence continues to focus exclusively on wages when, in fact, nurses and clinicians are focused on improving patient care, addressing historic unsafe staffing levels throughout the Providence system, and addressing serious patient concerns.

Nurses and clinicians are fighting for safe patient care standards to be protected in their contracts. By their own admission, Providence refuses to address short staffing and patient safety concerns in the hospitals, not to mention the excessive caseload requirements placed on nurses and clinicians working in patient homes.  

Despite an unprecedented sacrifice during the pandemic by nurses and clinicians, Providence has made little effort to address our concerns around paid time off (PTO) and has proposed almost no increases. It will not surprise Oregonians that many nurses and clinicians depleted their PTO to cover illnesses during the pandemic and were also unable to take additional time off because of the demands placed on them by chronic unsafe staffing levels.  

Providence’s offer also leaves the most experienced nurses (those who were the bedrock of their facilities during the pandemic) far behind in pay compared to OHSU. This will exacerbate the dangerous exodus of the most skilled and talented staff out of Providence - the exact staff that Providence needs to maintain the appropriate mix of experience and to ensure those new to the nursing profession will have access to qualified mentors and guides.  

Providence’s proposal perpetuates the inequities that nurses and patients experience on the North Coast in particular, especially when compared to the Portland Metro. Their refusal to address low clinic nurse pay means additional clinic closures are far more likely due to short staffing and an inability to retain and recruit nurses. This will force patients to find other providers, many of whom are not in the Seaside area.  

Nurses and clinicians want to be crystal clear: If Providence truly wanted to prioritize patient care, they would be negotiating this week, not directing nurses and clinicians to pre-cancel next week’s visits and procedures, delaying care for vulnerable patients for at least one full week, moving fragile newborns to new locations, and failing to replace occupational therapists or speech language pathologists.  

The fact of the matter is this: no one on the planet is better prepared to take care of Providence’s patients than Providence’s ONA-represented nurses and clinicians. Providence knows this, but is choosing, instead, to play games and try to distract the public from their own failures. Nurses and clinicians aren’t buying it, and neither should patients.  

As ONA said yesterday: we are ready to meet Providence at the bargaining table and ready to do what it takes to avert this strike.  

Where is Providence?

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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