Members and supporters of the Oregon Nurses Association continue to picket outside of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Southwest Portland, Thursday, June 20, 2024. The strike is scheduled to end early Friday morning, but the union said the strike would continue until all members are reinstated to their regular schedules.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
More than 3,000 nurses at six Providence hospitals across Oregon announced Thursday that they’ll continue picketing this week, despite reaching the end of a planned, three-day strike.
In their strike notice, the Oregon Nurses Association warned that if Providence locked out or delayed the reinstatement of nurses, picketing would continue.
Related: Tuesday's story: Providence nurses walk out amid contract negotiations
The strike is scheduled to end early Friday morning, but Providence has said it had to guarantee five days of work for replacement nurses, so striking nurses will only be invited back as needed. The nurses union said the strike would continue until all its members are reinstated to their regular schedules.
Outside Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Southwest Portland, delivery nurse Jessica Lobell said she’ll be back on the picket line Friday.
“We’re fighting for a fair contract,” Lobell said. “We want staffing language in our contract that is enforceable so that we can have safe staffing ratios.”
Oregon’s new staffing ratio law is perhaps the biggest sticking point between the two sides. It came into effect June 1 and sets a maximum ratio for the number of patients a nurse is expected to care for. Providence said it is following the law. But the union is pointing out that the law dictates a maximum nurse-to-patient ratio, and that sometimes patients need more attention.
Nicole Hudson, a striking emergency room nurse at Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City, is on the union’s bargaining committee.
“We want them to honor … the spirit of the law which is, those are maximum numbers,” Hudson said on the picket line this week. “Those are not a steady state ratio that you should always have.”
Hudson said she might be assigned four patients in the emergency room, the ratio laid out in the current state staffing law. But if one is really sick, they are going to need constant attention, leaving the other three patients to receive less care.
“I mean, you could have patients die if you don’t have a dedicated nurse being able to pay the attention to them that they need,” Hudson said.
Jennifer Gentry, Providence’s chief nursing officer, said the health system is committed to following Oregon’s rules for nurse staffing.
“We were part of the coalition that helped write that law and we have implemented that law,” she said. “That’s what we have followed in the staffing plans we have created.”
The Oregon Nurses Association continues picketing at Providence St. Vincent in Southwest Portland, Thursday, June 20, 2024.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
The two sides remain divided on a number of other issues including paid time off and the cost of their health care benefits.
Lobell, the delivery nurse, said she had her son where she works at Providence
“I paid thousands of dollars out of pocket. If I were to work at Kaiser down the street, that child would have cost $10 to have,” she said.
Gentry said that Providence’s health benefits are comprehensive, competitive and affordable.
Strike action is expected to continue Friday at Providence St. Vincent in Northwest Portland, Providence Newberg, Providence Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Providence Medford, Providence Hood River and Providence Milwaukie.
Both sides are encouraging patients to seek care when they need it, regardless of the strike.
Negotiations have been grinding for months.
The Oregon Nurses Association said it is ready to start negotiations again any time. Providence said there is usually a cooling off period after a strike before negotiators can get back to the table.
Nurses are not being paid while on the picket line. But union members can apply for assistance in an emergency.