PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Nurses at Providence St. Vincent are considering a strike as they undergo contract negotiations asking for better working conditions.

After a grueling past couple of years, nurses throughout the Providence healthcare system are sounding the alarm about the shortage of staff as they’re struggling to care for patients and themselves.

“Asking nurses to work 16 hours straight, sometimes with only enough time in their shift to eat a bite as
they’re running from patient to patient, typically not getting a real break,”  Providence nurse Nicole Hudson said.

Nurses say, this increased stress from strained staffing has taken an emotional toll.

“All being pushed to hurry up by management, do more with less, same amount of time you’ve got to see two or three more patients a day. ‘Go, go, go,’ that is a recipe for medical mistakes to be made,” home health nurse Mark Miers said.  

Leaders at Providence acknowledged the need to hire, saying pre-pandemic they had 220 nurse openings across their eight hospitals. Today, that number has risen to 425.

“Staffing is a challenge, we’re taking care of more patients now than historically we have. We’ve had people out ill, unfortunately,” Jennifer Burrows, chief executive of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, said.

Providence St. Vincent says they’re offering their nurses a 9% pay increase in the first year alone, compensating nurses for working overtime and continuing their efforts to recruit.

“We want to work towards an agreeable situation for both parties,” Burrows explained.

The nurses at Providence say the staffing shortage didn’t start with COVID but has been years in the making.

Nurses at Providence St. Vincent are the only ones currently in contract negotiations fighting for staffing changes, but four more Providence hospital contracts will be up for negotiations between now and the end of the year.

In a statement, Burrows said “it’s truly unfortunate that ONA is focused on attacking Providence and our caregivers rather than directing that energy at our contract negotiations at Providence St. Vincent. ONA has declined multiple recent dates to return to the table. While we now have two dates set, we think it’s important to note the following:

  • The latest PSVMC wage proposal includes a 9.3% increase in year one, 2.5% in year two, and 2% in year three. These proposed increased are in line with the other major health systems in Portland. To say otherwise is misleading. The first increase would take effect immediately upon ratification, and is another reason why it’s important for ONA to return to the table.
  • On Jan. 28, Providence St. Vincent submitted this increase as part of a strong, comprehensive package proposal aimed at securing a new contract for nurses. Following the proposal, ONA cancelled the Feb. 8 bargaining session. The Providence St. Vincent team offered eight additional bargaining dates to ONA. ONA accepted only two – a full month apart (Feb. 17 and Mar. 17). ONA’s unwillingness to prioritize the needs of our nurses and negotiate a contract at the bargaining table means our nurses continue to wait for wage increases and contract enhancements.
  • As a health care organization, it is very important to us that we offer competitive wages and benefits, and we do. Our caregivers have three medical plans to choose from. We are confident that our total rewards package is comparable to and competitive with plans at Portland’s other major health systems.
  • Regarding staffing, under our ONA contract staffing plans are developed at the unit level, giving our nurses a voice. ONA does not propose to change that unit-based process. And each staffing plan is required to demonstrate a break and meal coverage plan. Starting this year, this includes how breaks are covered (i.e. RNs cover RNs) and the minimum nurse staffing during meals and breaks.

We urge ONA to stop wasting time on staged events and return to the business at hand: securing a contact agreement for our dedicated nurses.”