A strike at Legacy hospitals and clinics that began Dec. 2 is set to expand next week.
The initial group of about 135 advanced practice providers walked out after months of fruitless negotiations between Legacy and Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) over a first contract. Advanced practice providers is a health care union category that includes nurse practitioners, physician assistants and others whose training and responsibilities are between those of nurses and physicians.
Now two other newly unionized groups of advanced practice providers have issued notice that they’ll strike in solidarity with the first group. A unit of 50 at Legacy Go Health clinics will strike on Dec. 21 and 22, and a unit of 30 pediatric advanced practice providers will strike Dec. 22 and 23.
On the picket line outside Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center, oncology nurse practitioner Megan Barckert said striking workers were living two realities at once.
“We’re energized in terms of standing up for what we and our patients and our communities deserve,” Barckert said. “On the flip side, it’s heartbreaking not to be at the bedside and in our clinics caring for our patients.”
Barckert said members signed strike authorization pledges in September and took official strike authorization votes in October, but the union was trying to avoid a strike.
“Unfortunately, Legacy really pushed us into our corner…. We had no other option except to strike, in terms of getting what we deserve,” Barckert said.
Marianne Wachalovsky, a nurse practitioner in palliative care, said nearly half of the palliative care providers were out on strike.
“We do a lot of the work that physicians are doing, but we are putting a lot of long hours in that are not getting compensated,” Wachalovsky said. “I wish that our presence here brings some consciousness about what is happening behind the scenes in a big hospital system,” she said Dec. 11 on the picket line outside Good Samaritan.
Legacy refused to bargain after the union issued strike notice. In a Dec. 5 statement provided to the Labor Press, Legacy said it would resume meeting with the union when the work stoppage ended. But Legacy and ONA met briefly on Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 and had more mediation sessions scheduled for Dec. 18 and 22.
Legacy said in a Dec. 11 press release that it had not received a counter offer from ONA in response to its Nov. 20 offer. Either side can send updated offers outside of bargaining sessions, but ONA said the union had told Legacy it was ready to present a counterproposal at the next bargaining session.
