Several years after the Legacy and Providence hospital chains outsourced their jobs, about 500 medical testing lab workers have a first union contract.
Ratified March 9-15 by 86% of members voting, the contract between Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) and Laboratory Corporation of America (Labcorp) provides wage increases and a $800 signing bonus. Minimum starting pay will now be $20 an hour, up from just over $18.
The first set of pay increases take place July 1 and come from placement on a new step pay schedule that rewards workers for sticking around. All workers will see raises of at least 2% and some will get much more. Depending on their job classification and how long they’ve been in their position, workers are placed on one of nine pay scales. They get raises each year until they reach 10 years with the company. Lab assistants, on the lowest scale, will start at $20 an hour and rise to $24.98. Laboratory team leads, who are in the highest scale, start at $40 an hour and rise to $49.95. The pay rate on every step of the scale will also rise 1.5% July 1, 2027, as a cost-of-living adjustment. Weekend, evening, and night shift work earns pay premiums of $1.50, $1,75, and $2.25 an hour respectively.
The contracts also guarantee an array of workplace rights, including the right to have a union steward present in cases of discipline, no mandatory overtime except in case of emergency, schedules posted two weeks in advance, some seniority rights, a pledge that no worker will be laid off due to outsourcing, and hiring preference for existing workers who apply for vacant positions.
Legacy lab workers joined OFNHP in May 2024 and Providence lab workers joined in February 2025, in both cases after their non-profit employers outsourced lab work to for-profit Labcorp. The work is still performed in the Legacy and Providence facilities.
The two sides have been bargaining since Aug. 7, 2024.
Technically, workers ratified eight separate agreements covering 13 locations, but the agreements have the same terms and expiration dates. At several points in bargaining Labcorp wanted to conduct separate bargaining for each of the eight units, a union spokesperson told the Labor Press, but eventually even the company realized it was more practical to have unified terms and conditions.
Companies often give the same improvements to non-union workers to dampen future union support, and OFNHP said Labcorp is doing that for its non-union labs in the area.
The Portland-area workers may be the first Labcorp workers in the United States to have unionized and won a union contract. UFCW Local 3000 represents about 600 Seattle-area Labcorp workers who work in labs that unionized when they were part of Dynacare, before that company was sold to Labcorp.
The contracts between OFNHP and Labcorp expire March 31, 2028.
