BEND, OR -- Nurses represented by the Oregon Nurses Association gave a 10-day notice Friday to management at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend of their intent to strike. The walkout by almost 1,000 nurses would begin June 12th if a new contract agreement is not reached by then.
John Nangle, a St. Charles RN for over two decades, says conditions have deteriorated over the past years, “It's a hard day to tell the community that we're at this moment. This is something we don't want to do, but the status quo is not acceptable.” He says it’s up to St. Charles to come to the table with a contract that will meet the goals of recruiting and retaining more nurses, “It really is in their hands. They know what we've been asking for for years, and they know what we've been asking for and what our priorities have been during these negotiations. It's not a surprise.”
Bend State Representative Jason Kropf says he supports the nurses, “When I met with our nurses back in February and they were talking about the struggles they were having, what was really evident to me was how dedicated they are to the profession and providing care for their patients and they felt taken for granted by their employer. And that's not acceptable.” He spoke Friday about his personal experiences at St. Charles, “The people that stick out to me as the nurses that have cared for me and my family and we have to do right by them. They are a critical part of our health care system.”
St. Charles Chief Operating Officer Iman Simmons says the hospital is making contingency plans for a work stoppage, “We know that no one wins in a strike. The negative impact for our workplace, our caregivers and our community, it will last long after the strike itself ends.” Simmons says the health system will bring in temporary replacement workers and determine which non-critical services may need to be suspended, “While we will do our best to put contingency plans and staffing into place, we also need patients to be prepared for longer wait times, cancellations of planned procedures, and an increased need for medical transport to hospitals in Portland, Seattle and Boise, as a result of this strike.”
The last nursing strike in Bend was in 1980 and Senior Nursing Leader Julie Ostrom says 2019 negotiations lasted much longer than this round, “Our nurses did take a strike authorization vote during that go-around, but we never got to the point where they actually delivered a strike notice and an intention to do a work stoppage to us. The issues are different. That was pre-pandemic and we were not facing the magnitude of nursing shortage that we are today.”
Ostrom is part of the St. Charles bargaining team and says talks Tuesday and Wednesday will involve a federal mediator, “It allows us to be a little bit more creative. They’re very skilled at doing exactly what their title is: mediating conversations about hard topics.” Ostrom says a pay increase implemented earlier this year brought the average annual pay for a full time registered nurse in Bend to $108,000 dollars.
