Jan. 6, 2025
(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Providence’s claims about an “all-or-nothing” approach by the nearly 5,000 union-represented caregivers are categorically false. ONA has been fully engaged in the bargaining process, providing counterproposals on the rare occasion that Providence brings meaningful offers to the table. Unfortunately, Providence has refused to bargain with all the nearly 5,000 frontline caregivers who are getting ready to go on strike, choosing instead to stall on critical issues that impact patient care and worker safety.
Providence’s suggestion that the strike poses a “significant risk” to community health is a dangerous distortion of the facts. The real threat to communities across Oregon is Providence’s chronic understaffing and failure to prioritize investments in frontline caregivers. These systemic issues, not this strike, are the root cause of reduced access to care for Oregonians.
Earlier today, ONA released the findings from a survey that showed more than 90% of Providence patients reported having a negative experience at a Providence facility in the past three years while 92% of patients reported they support striking nurses and healthcare providers at Providence. Providence made last-minute proposals today for hospitalists and clinics, showing minimal substantive movement after a week of silence and inaction. They also remain silent on all nurse contracts. ONA is already preparing counterproposals.
True progress requires sustained, good-faith negotiations at all bargaining tables, not eleventh-hour gestures or hyperbolic public statements to the press.
Our members—nurses, physicians, and health care workers, the people on the frontlines of healthcare —are striking to demand safe staffing, fair contracts, and the resources needed to deliver the quality care Oregonians deserve. ONA remains committed to working toward solutions at the bargaining table and urges Providence to stop its fearmongering and dishonest accusations and start engaging meaningfully in negotiations.
That’s how this strike can be averted.
