Oregon nurses, hospital system brace for record-breaking strike

"We strongly encourage all nurses to stand in solidarity with these ONA members and not accept travel nurse contracts scheduled to start in June or July for these employers," ONA said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — More than 3,000 nurses at six Providence hospitals in Oregon plan to go on strike next week. This includes Providence St. Vincent, Willamette Falls, Newberg, Medford, Hood River and Milwaukie.

Providence has vowed to hire temporary nurses while their regular employees walk the picket lines beginning June 18.

"We respect the rights of our nurses to strike and we ask them to respect our responsibility to continue to care for our patients," said Providence Central Division Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Gentry.

However, the Oregon Nurses Association sent out a letter urging nurses across the state not to "strike-break." The letter said in part:

"We strongly encourage all nurses to stand in solidarity with these ONA members and not accept travel nurse contracts scheduled to start in June or July for these employers."

"This is a standard letter that ONA sends out to our members anytime that we're in the process of planning for or holding a strike, notifying our nurses across the state and encouraging them not to cross the picket line," explained ONA Chief of Staff Scott Palmer.

The two sides were unable to reach an agreement during last week's negotiations. ONA told KOIN 6 News some nurses have been working without a contract since last December.

"It's Providence who needs to be careful with words like 'unprofessional' and 'reckless.' This is from an organization who wants their nurses to consider coming back to work, reaching an agreement with them," Palmer said. "That's not the kind of language that the nurses find respectful or professional it's, it's outrageous."

ONA and the hospital system remain at odds over competitive pay, health care benefits and patient-staffing ratios. A new state law in effect this month sets a minimum for nurse-patient ratios.

"We're in the process of implementing one of the strictest and most stringent complex staffing laws in the United States," Gentry said. "We're only a couple of weeks in and implementing that law, which establishes nurse-patient ratios and staffing standards, that we will be required to follow."

Providence said they've offered competitive wages and health care benefits. They said they'll keep all hospitals and doctors' offices open by bringing in substitute nurses. ONA said the nurses poised for strike want to get back to work.

"Providence isn't listening to their nurses. And this is a last resort for these nurses. There isn't a single one of these nurses that wants to be on a strike line next week," Palmer said. "They want to be at the bedside caring for their patient, giving excellent quality care to the people who need them."

Should the strike commence as planned, ONA said it will be the largest nurses strike in Oregon's history.