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Correction: The vote closes June 23, not July 23. 

NURSE PRESS CONFERENCE: 

Thursday, June 23

1 p.m.  PT

Oregon Nurses Association – Third Floor Conference Room

18765 SW Boones Ferry Rd. 

Tualatin, OR 97062 

Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) nurse leaders from Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and other Portland-area Providence hospitals will announce vote results from Providence St. Vincent’s Tentative Agreement ratification vote and answer media questions about next steps. We will also stream the conference live on our main Facebook page. Please contact Scott Palmer or Myrna Jensen to attend the press conference in person or to ask a virtual question. 

(Portland, OR) - ONA nurses at Providence St. Vincent are currently voting on a tentative contract agreement with Providence. The vote closes Thursday, June 23. Nurses will announce the vote results during Thursday’s press conference at the ONA offices at 1 p.m. 

If nurses at Providence St. Vincent vote to ratify the tentative contract agreement it will take effect immediately and avert a strike at St. Vincent. If nurses vote not to ratify, the ONA nurse bargaining team at Providence St. Vincent may return to negotiations or move towards a strike. 

The 1,600 frontline nurses working at Providence St. Vincent are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). 

In May, ONA nurses at Providence St. Vincent voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike against Providence to protest Providence’s illegal unfair labor practices (ULPs) and demand a fair contract that improves patient care, raises nurse staffing standards, makes health care more affordable and addresses Providence’s growing staffing crisis. ONA nurses at Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City have also authorized unfair labor practice strikes against Providence–Oregon’s largest health care system and one of the state’s largest employers. 

The results of the vote at Providence St. Vincent does not impact nurse contracts or strike preparations at the other two Providence hospitals. If strikes are called at any ONA-represented hospital, nurses will provide Providence with a 10-day notice to allow Providence’s management adequate time to cease admissions and transfer patients or to reach a fair agreement with nurses and avert a work stoppage. 

ONA represents more than 4,000 frontline nurses working in 10 Providence Health System facilities from Portland to Medford including multiple Oregon hospitals where Providence has allowed nurse contracts to expire, including Providence St. Vincent, Providence Milwaukie, Providence Willamette Falls, and Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. 

ONA nurses have volunteered their time to meet with paid Providence managers more than 50 times over the last eight months to bargain multiple contracts at Providence's Oregon hospitals. ONA frontline nurses throughout Oregon are asking Providence for basic safety standards and common-sense proposals to protect our patients, our coworkers and our families including stronger patient safety standards, safe nurse staffing, affordable health care, paid leave, and a fair compensation package that enables the hospital to recruit and retain the skilled frontline caregivers our communities need to stay healthy and safe. 

BACKGROUND: 

Providence St. Vincent Medical Center is one of the largest hospitals in Oregon and is the most profitable hospital in Providence St. Joseph’s vast multistate, multi-billion dollar health system. Nurses’ vote on the tentative agreement at Providence St. Vincent follows historic strike votes by nurses and one of the largest informational pickets in recent Oregon history. On March 15, more than 700 frontline nurses who work at multiple locations within the Providence Health System led an informational picket outside Providence St. Vincent Medical Center about raising health care standards for nurses, patients, and our communities. Supporters included nurses and other health care professionals, along with labor, religious and community leaders, and elected officials including Oregon gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, MD, and multiple Oregon state representatives.

• Click here for photos from ONA Nurses’ Informational Picket at Providence St. Vincent https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/zyj8jt15cgm8v81hakjy4/h?dl=0&rlkey=jia1alng0en9g2x2le2dczahw

ONA nurses continue to bargain multiple open contracts with Providence St. Joseph–the multi-state, multi-billion dollar health care giant. On May 4, ONA nurses at Providence St. Vincent voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center—one of Oregon’s largest and most profitable hospitals. 

On June 3, frontline nurses at Providence Milwaukie Hospital in Milwaukie and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City voted overwhelmingly to authorize strikes against Providence. Providence has never faced a strike in Oregon. The unprecedented strike votes are to protest Providence’s illegal unfair labor practices (ULPs) and demand fair contracts which improve patient care, raise nurse staffing standards, make health care more affordable and address Providence’s growing staffing crisis.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout Oregon. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

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