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About 5,000 health care workers at all eight hospitals and several clinics run by Providence Health & Services plan to go on strike at 7 am Friday, Jan. 10, to protest what they say are low wages and dangerously understaffed critical care units and emergency rooms.
After a week of intensive bargaining and a five-day cooling-off period, the Oregon Nurses Association gave Providence a 10-day notice, as required by law, ONA said. Employees planning to strike work at Providence facilities in Portland, Seaside, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Medford, Newberg and Hood River. The strike will be the largest in Oregon history and the first to include doctors, who are newly unionized, the union added.
“Providence is a $30 billion corporation whose top executives make million-dollar salaries and are too focused on profits and not enough on high-quality patient care,” ONA said in a statement. “Providence’s outgoing CEO made more than $12 million in 2024. The corporatization of health care has left many Providence employees frustrated and burnt out as they are being told to spend less and less time with patients and more time trying to drive up profits.”
Union members want Providence to invest more in patient safety, cover more of employees’ health care costs, and offer wages that are competitive with other hospitals and clinics in the region.
“Providence offers their employees health care plans that are far worse than other healthcare systems, with some Providence employees having to pay $5,000 out of pocket to receive services at the place they work,” ONA said.
In an email to staff, Providence Oregon CEO Jennifer Burrows said management had “competitive offers on the table for each hospital bargaining unit,” including double-digit pay increases that amount to $12,000 a year for the typical nurse working in a hospital.
“We have addressed other concerns brought to us and included other incentives in each contract, including the contract terms offered to physician bargaining units,” Burrows wrote. “But, instead of working toward a solution, union leaders have resorted to another strike that will delay resolution.”
Management won’t bargain with the union during the strike, Burrows wrote. Providence has arranged for replacement workers during the strike. Any union members who would like to cross the picket line and report for work will be welcome, she said.