Practicing social distancing and masking up, a small delegation of nurses made their way to the office of Willamette Valley Medical Center’s CEO, Lori Bergen on Nov. 23, 2020. They handed over a list of 109 nurses who pledged to not take an unsafe patient load so they
could ensure the safety of all staff and patients. They also demanded that management be willing to truly negotiate at the bargaining table.
In November 2019, nurses delivered a petition to the CNO with 101 signatures informing her that they were filing authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote to form a union. Today, their reasons for forming a union
remain the same:
- To provide quality patient care with enough support and appropriate tools and technology to focus on safety for everyone; and
- To ensure that all staff nurses are represented, treated fairly, and have access to due process;
- To allow nurse input in decision-making that fosters transparency and affects delivery of care and working conditions.
“It’s very frustrating to have to fight with management over safe patient loads, especially since we are in the middle of a pandemic,” said Jenie White, RN, ONA bargaining unit chair at WVMC. “We are losing skilled nurses at an alarming rate because providing
excellent care with insufficient support is burning people out.”
“Daycare centers have strict requirements for staffing depending on the ages and numbers of children on site. But as nurses we are often told to take care of more patients than is safe,” said Corey Mertz, RN, ONA bargaining unit vice chair. “Recently
we had a patient fall because of insufficient staffing. That could have been prevented.”
“At every negotiation meeting we have reminded management our reasons for forming a union; however, it is apparent that they are not wanting to make any substantive forward movement at the table,” said Rena Langlitz, RN, ONA bargaining unit staffing chair.
“We have been consistently bargaining for the past six months, but it sure feels like we are still at square one. Negotiations over Zoom is not ideal but having only reached five tentative agreements out of 30 doesn’t feel like progress.”
