Providence’s latest attempt to spin the truth is nothing more than a smokescreen to distract from the real issues nurses and patients face every day. Let’s cut through the BS (Providence’s bad statistics!):
1. “Market-Competitive” Compensation? Let’s Be Honest.
Providence wants you to believe that the “typical nurse will be making a $150,000 base salary.”
Spoiler alert: The “typical” nurse will not.
Spoiler alert 2: There is no such thing as a “typical” nurse. Some nurses work full time, some work part time (some work part time at Providence and part time at another health system), some work per diem, some work nights and holidays, some are preceptors, and sometimes nurses are “on call.”
The facts: the median annual wage for a nurse at Providence in the final year of the rejected tentative agreement would be as much as $62,000 dollars less than the $150,000 Providence is claiming they would make.
Additionally, the wage offers to the Providence hospital RNs who make the most moneystill lagged the market by 4.3%. The gap between Providence’s offer and a “competitive wage” for all the other bargaining units was even larger.
Providence’s bad statistics simply do not add up.
2. Staffing Crisis? Providence Is in Denial.
Pointing to 650 nurses hired over the last three years to falsely claim they have no staffing crisis is laughable. The figure proves nothing.
The fact is that Providence, as well as hospitals elsewhere, hemorrhaged demoralized and exhausted nurses during and after the pandemic. Providence’s efforts to replace them and meet the growing demand for nurses during that time collapsed. The corporation has needed to play catchup since. Its recent hiring figures are unremarkable and entirely consistent with growth in the RN workforce overall in Oregon and expansion of the hospital workforce throughout the state recently.
Staffing at Oregon’s Providence hospitals continues to be insufficient. Observe the more than 300 staffing complaints filed with the Oregon Health Authority since last July and you get a clear picture of a hospital system in crisis, where patient safety is at risk due to inadequate staffing levels, hobbled by recruitment and retention problems.
3. Health Care Costs? Executives Can Afford It—Nurses Can’t.
Providence said, “Bargaining unit nurses receive the same medical benefits package provided to their colleagues, including senior executives...”
Executives raking in millions can absorb rising out-of-pocket health care costs and higher premiums easily - but frontline nurses can’t. For instance, consider the impact of the out-of-pocket costs on Providence Executives versus frontline caregivers:
Example One:One of Providence Oregon’s Executives is paid over $1.1 million a year. Under the new Aetna plan, their out-of-pocket costs for family coverage is $11,731 per year, which includes medical and dental premiums, deductibles, and an extra premium charge for compensation above $200,000. Even with the extra charge, the costs they pay are just 1.1% of their annual income.
Example Two: A St. Vincent’s nurse who earns $85,000 would pay $9,784 per year in annual premiums and deductibles for family coverage. This would amount to 11.5% of the nurse’s wages – ten times the amount of a Providence Executive.
The “same medical benefits package” isn’t really the same after all.
What They Didn’t Say Also Speaks Volumes
Providence loves to report out on numbers when they can manipulate them, but here’s what they didn’t say in their latest statement.
Replacement Nurses Cost More: Providence will spend more on replacement nurses THIS WEEK than it would cost to close the gap between what was in their last proposal and full retro wages to its own staff. Specifically, Providence is spending an estimated $25 million per week for its replacement nurse wages. Their last contract offer was $15.7 million short on retro wages owed.
Providence Has Billions in Reserves: With $7.8 billion in cash reserves, it would take less than 0.2% to give their frontline nurses full retro pay. That’s right—less than 0.2%! And they would still have over $7 billion left in their “rainy day fund.”
Follow The Money to Providence’s Real Priorities: In 2023, Providence paid over $70 million in executive bonuses – that's just bonuses! If they cut just 35-40% of that, they could invest in their frontline caregivers and meet the retro wage gap. Maybe better yet why not scrap executive bonuses altogether? If Providence is facing such “strong financial headwinds,” these bonuses for executives (who already make millions of dollars in salaries) might be a convenient place to trim...If Providence’s leadership cared about patients, staff, and the communities they serve, they would act like it.
Providence has the resources to end this strike today. What nurses are proposing isn’t “financially unviable” for Providence; it’s a choice. A choice to prioritize temporary fixes and bloated executive bonuses over long-term solutions that nurses and patients desperately need.
Nurses deserve better. Patients deserve better. And Providence can afford to do better.
It’s time to stop the BS.
Feb. 12, 2025
