PORTLAND, Ore. — More than 3,000 nurses across six different Providence Health facilities in Oregon plan to strike on Tuesday. Nurses claim they are overworked, understaffed and underpaid, and the strike is a way to push for better conditions after the pandemic took so much out of them.
"There was a lot of frustration. Folks were feeling like Providence was not hearing them," said Myrna Jensen from the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). "The folks at the table were not listening when we said we need to have these things."
The strike is set to last three days and will impact six hospitals across Oregon: Providence St. Vincent in Portland, Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Newberg, Hood River, Milwaukie and Medford.
Whitney Evans is a charge nurse at Providence Medford. She said this strike was a last resort.
"I really hope that we're able to come to a deal and get a fair, safe contract, before we have to vote for another strike and do this all over again. One should be enough," Evans said.
Providence said facilities will remain open during the strike, and negotiations will be put on pause in order to find replacement workers.
"Right now, our focus is on ensuring that our patients have access to great care," said Jennifer Gentry, a spokesperson for Providence. "We want to continue to care for our community while our nurses take care of this business."
On June 14, ONA sent a cease-and-desist letter to Providence, claiming they were violating safe-staffing laws which require a certain patient-to-nurse ratio. Providence said it is working to build out those plans and plan to follow the law as written.
Both Providence and ONA encourage people to come in and seek care despite the strike. Providence said all of their sites will be open and serving patients during this strike.
As for the nurses going on strike, they won’t be too far from work. They will use this time to picket at their respective hospitals throughout the three days.