In this March 2022 file photo, hundreds of frontline nurses from the Providence Health System join supporters at an informational picket in front of the St. Vincent hospital in Portland. Nurses have now agreed to a contract with the health care giant.
Courtesy of Oregon Nursing Association
Nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center voted Friday to approve a two-year contract with the Providence Health System.
The nurses previously voted down an earlier proposed contract and had authorized a strike, but reached this agreement before walking out.
The Oregon Nurses Association represents 1,600 nurses at Providence St. Vincent, one of the largest and most profitable hospitals in the state.
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The new contract increases nurses’ wages by up to 16.5% over the next two years, according to ONA.
Both sides have said that nurse pay at St. Vincent had fallen behind competitors like Oregon Health & Science University and Kaiser Permanente.
ONA says the contract addresses two additional major sticking points throughout the negotiations: staffing support for nurses during their meal breaks and the rising costs nurses are facing for their own health care.
Nurses object to the so-called “buddy breaking system.” That system requires nurses to pick up extra patients to cover for each other when they take meal breaks during their shifts, which typically last 12 hours.
The new contract creates a “break nurse” pilot program.
The contract also includes policies that limit nurses’ out-of-pocket health care costs.
Nurses at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City and Providence Milwaukie Hospital also voted in May to authorize strikes. The nurses at Providence Willamette Falls voted to ratify their own contract on July 11. Nurses in Milwaukie are holding their contract ratification vote starting July 20.