Providence nurses ratified new collective bargaining agreements at eight hospitals in votes held Feb. 22-24, ending the biggest healthcare strike in Oregon history.
The strike began when an estimated 4,620 nurses represented by Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) walked out Jan. 10, and it ended 47 days later with they returned to work the night of Feb. 26. Providence could have had them return sooner, but told the union it needed time to get ready for their return. The nonprofit Catholic hospital chain employed scab nurses during the strike. ONA estimated Providence was spending $25 million per week on strikebreakers drawn from other parts of the country. The settlement came just before striking nurses were set to lose health coverage on Feb. 28.
The new collective bargaining agreements include immediate raises of 16% to 22%, varying based on which hospital and how many years of service a nurse has.
Under the new contract at Providence Portland, for example, registered nurses will start at $58.07 an hour under the new contract. At the top of the scale, a nurse with 30 years experience makes $81.25 an hour. Those ends of a 30-year progression will rise to $62.81 and $87.88 by the end of the contract.
For about two-thirds of the strikers, the raises will be retroactive to when their previous contracts expired. Nurses at Providence Portland Medical Center and Providence Seaside — whose contracts expired Dec. 31, 2024 — will get a $2,500 bonus instead of retroactive pay.
Backpay checks totalling tens of thousands of dollars will come as a relief to nurses who’ve been off the job a month and a half, some taking other jobs in that time.
“The strike has taken its toll on many of us,” said Virginia Smith, unit chair at Providence Willamette Falls hospital, at a Feb. 25 press conference announcing the settlement. “There’s been anxiety, uncertainty and real hardship, but we have never lost sight of our goal, a safer, more supportive work environment for our nurses and better patient care in our communities.”
Scheduled increases in the agreements will bring wages up a total of 20% to 42% over the next two to three years.
The new contracts also give nurses hope of getting better health coverage in the future. Providence switched to Aetna last December to administer its own insurance plan, said Richard Botterill, bargaining unit chair at Providence Portland. That led to complaints when members existing’ heath providers or prescriptions weren’t on Aetna’s preferred lists, Botterill told the Labor Press. As part of the strike settlement, Providence and ONA will discuss the merits of moving to a jointly trusteed statewide health plan that would be sponsored by the union and one or more employers.
The agreements also make improvements to nurse staffing, ONA said, because acuity — how serious a patient’s condition is — will be factored into future staffing plans. Nurses will also receive penalty pay equal to an hour of wages for every missed break or meal.
Providence held firm against ONA’s demand that the contracts have the same expiration date in the future, but it did make the expirations closer together, ONA said. The new contracts at five hospitals — Providence St. Vincent in Portland and its hospitals in Milwaukie, Oregon City, Newberg, and Hood River — expire Dec. 31, 2026. Contracts at Providence Medford and Providence women’s clinics expire March 31, 2027. And contracts at Providence Portland and Providence Seaside expire Dec. 31, 2027.
