About 380 members of Oregon Nurses Association at Providence Medford Medical Center have been on strike since Jan. 10, together with nurses at seven other Providence hospitals in the state. But their coworkers at the same Medford hospital — physicians, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants in the emergency department — unanimously ratified a first contract Feb. 7 without a strike. The group of 20 workers unionized in 2023.
In their contract with Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association, physicians received a 20.7% hourly wage increase after years without raises. Bryce Pulliam, a Providence Medford emergency department physician and chair of the bargaining committee, said physician responsibilities outside the emergency room were a key reason they unionized. Providence wanted to make ER physicians responsible for some procedures for Intensive Care Unit patients.
“We made it very clear that we couldn’t do that and still safely care for our patients in the ER,” Pulliam said.
The contract largely got what the union wanted by limiting the instances when ER doctors respond outside the ER, Pulliam said.
For compensation, Pulliam said the union’s goal was to keep pace with inflation. Physicians had gotten no raises since 2020, and that was a 1% increase. The last significant raise was in 2018, Pulliam said. Inflation has increased prices 22% since fall 2020.
“While our experience with the administration locally was a fairly productive negotiation and bargaining that allowed us to get to a contract without having to strike, I would hope that going forward, they are able to negotiate with our nurses in a similar fashion and get to an agreement that gets them off of the strike line and back to work,” Pulliam said.
