An extraordinary wave of union organizing in the Legacy Health system continued in recent weeks, with three more units voting to unionize.
A unit of 50 nurse practitioners and physician assistants at two Legacy Health hospitals voted 40-0 to join the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA), in mail ballots tallied Jan. 24. The new unit covers workers at Legacy Emanuel and Legacy Good Samaritan who are collectively referred to as “advanced practice providers.”
A unit of 17 obstetricians and gynecologists voted 16-1 to join Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association in mail ballots counted Feb. 12.
And a unit of 27 cyber security engineers and clinical engineering or biomedical equipment technicians voted 22-4 to join Operating Engineers Local 701 in mail ballots tallied Feb. 12.
Those follow a string of union organizing wins at the nonprofit health system:
- 360 nurses at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center joined ONA in April;
- 60 clinical social workers and other health care staff joined ONA in August;
- 196 doctors at six Legacy hospitals joined the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNHMA) in November;
- 140 health care technologists at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center joined Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals in December; and
- 30 midwives at Legacy’s Women’s Health Clinics joined ONA in January.
Legacy Health is a private nonprofit health system that operates eight hospitals and more than 70 clinics in Oregon and Washington. In August, it announced a plan to combine with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in a $1 billion merger that, if approved, would create the single largest employer in Portland.
