Nine hundred nurses at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend have a new four-and-a-half-year contract following a 98 percent vote by 664 members of Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). The agreement provides for across-the-board wage increases of 1 to 2 percent every six months, totaling 11.5 percent as of July 1, 2022. The agreement runs through Dec. 31, 2022. Nurses agreed to pay an additional 5 percent of the cost of health premiums in 2021, bringing the total to 10 to 15 percent. Other changes include:
- New hires will come in at a step pay level consistent with their years of experience.
- Nurses will have greater input into staffing and practice issues: Half the members of all hospital shared governance committee will now be nurses.
The hospital is the flagship in the non-profit St. Charles Health System, which also operates facilities in Redmond, Prineville, and Madras. At the Redmond and Prineville facilities, nurses are also represented by ONA; their contracts expire next year.
