A slate of reform candidates won three of the four top elected offices in Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) in vote results announced Feb. 20. The slate, Caucus for Powerful Reform (CPR), said it wants to build a more transparent, democratic, member-led union — and oppose healthcare closures and consolidation.
“Unelected executives should not be making decisions on behalf of members nor should they be meeting with workplace executives without members (i.e., no backdoor deals)” said the slate platform statement. That refers to member misgivings about how the Providence strike was handled and to ONA’s decision to support a doomed plan by OHSU to buy Legacy Health Systems for $1 billion.
The CPR slate pledged to publicize leadership meeting minutes and not to sign non-disclosure agreements with any other organization. It also declares that the American healthcare system isn’t broken but is working as intended — to create profit for hospital board rooms.
“This system does not need reform,” CPR says on its web site. “It needs to be torn down and replaced with true healthcare for all.”
The slate’s message apparently resonated with members. In a voting period that ran Jan. 12 to Feb. 12, CPR candidates competed with a more incumbent-oriented slate known as Stronger Together, and CPR won 10 seats on the board of directors while Stronger Together won 5. Current board member Richard Botterill, who ran as part of Stronger Together, won election as treasurer, one of the top four officer seats; the other three were won by CPR candidates.
Heading up the CPR slate was Gina Ottinger, a nurse at Providence St. Vincent hospital.
Ottinger, 52, grew up in a farming community in Idaho, moved to Oregon in 2000, and was drawn by her in-laws into working in health care. She first worked as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home, then at Providence St. Vincent in 2008 after getting a nursing degree. She’s been in St. Vincent’s emergency department since 2010. Her path to union involvement began in 2015 when she became a steward.
Like so many other health care workers, Ottinger was deeply affected by the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic and witnessed a mass exodus of her coworkers. “Burnout” doesn’t fully capture what happened, Ottinger told the Labor Press: It was more like “moral injury” — being asked to care for patients without sufficient resources or capacity.
Then came the 46-day strike in 2025, which Ottinger called a life-changing experience, both terrifying and empowering.
“It underscored the true power of collective action,” Ottinger said. “When we went out, we just wanted to get to a reasonable agreement, and when that didn’t seem to happen, and the weeks went by, it really was a test of endurance. … We all knew what we were standing for. This was about taking care of our patients and ourselves.”
ONA — an affiliate of American Federation of Teachers — says it represents more than 25,000 health care workers, mostly registered nurses but also some physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and doctors.
“ONA is really in a strong position right now,” Ottinger said. “We’re growing at record pace. We negotiated strong contracts. We led the largest (health care) strike in Oregon history. But that didn’t happen by accident; it happened because members were organized and we stepped up. Now the question is, ‘How do we build on that momentum?’”
Besides Ottinger as president, ONA members also elected:
- Vice President Duncan Zevetski
- Secretary Katie Moslander
- Treasurer Richard Botterill
- Directors Kyle Cook, Bill Erickson, Lisa Gregory, Alexandra Hall, Elizabeth Lepire, Amanda Newman, and Kartika Vasavada
- Director (recent grad) Elizabeth Farley
- Director (healthcare professional, Non-RN) Kellie Holloway Franz
- Director (Chair of the Cabinet on Professional Practice) Linda Bifano
- Director (Chair of the Cabinet on Health Policy) Virginia Smith
ONA declined to share vote totals or say how many members voted, but Ottinger said member turnout was the highest in recent memory.
The new leaders take office July 1. All the elected positions are volunteer.
CORRECTION: This article has been corrected. As initially posted it said CPR had won all but one union office. In actuality it won three out of four (all but one) of the top four offices, and most seats on the Board of Directors. You can see the full list of officers elected here. The Labor Press regrets the error.
