Doctors, Nurses in Oregon Still on Strike

As the strike by nearly 5,000 healthcare workers from Providence Health in Oregon reaches the 3-week mark, representatives from the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) union, which is representing the workers, and the health system are in mediation at the request of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D).

Even several members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation have called on the two groups to reach an agreement, sending a letter last week to Providence leadership, urging the healthcare system to “engage in good faith bargaining” with the healthcare workers, according to local news station KGW.

The strike — which began Jan. 10 after months of negotiations between the involved parties — is believed to be the largest involving healthcare workers and the first involving physicians in the state’s history, according to ONA.

Since that time, the strike has continued without resolution between ONA and Providence.

On Wednesday, ONA and Providence issued a joint statement — but it wasn’t that any agreement had been reached.

“At the request of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, the Oregon Nurses Association and Providence Oregon have agreed to have representatives from both sides re-engage in intensive, in-person mediation beginning today, January 29th, 2025, in an effort to end this strike,” the statement read.

“Both sides are engaging in every effort to get this dispute resolved as expeditiously as possible and get people back to work,” it added.

Previously, ONA noted that contract proposals to Providence had included language involving safe staffing, market competitive wages, and changes to employee health insurance benefits.

About a week into the strike, ONA stated that when Providence agreed to return to negotiations with the workers, bargaining teams from ONA quickly sent proposals from all 11 bargaining units, but more than 24 hours later, Providence had not responded.

Around the same time, Providence stated that it had filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association, which represents the doctors involved in the strike and is affiliated with ONA. The health system accused the union of bad faith bargaining.

Providence also had noted that it was offering an opportunity for ONA-represented acute-care nurses to return to work as the strike continued.

Overall, the sprawling group of healthcare workers on strike includes mostly nurses, but also physicians, nurse practitioners, physician associates, and nurse midwives.

Speaking with MedPage Today on the first day of the strike, Jennifer Lincoln, MD, an ob/gyn at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland said, “We’ll be out here as long as it takes.”

“Doctors, nurses, all of us united at this scale is unprecedented,” Lincoln said. “It’s us taking our power back so that we can do what’s best for the patients. Our voices matter.”

At the time, she also addressed the significance of physicians striking for the first time in Oregon’s history, noting that “we have to uphold our oath of taking care of our patients, and first doing no harm.”

Striking physicians were not currently available for interviews due to the mediation requested by Gov. Kotek, according to ONA.

Neither ONA nor Providence provided additional comment as of Thursday afternoon.

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