Nurses strike for equity and patient safety at PeaceHealth 

More than 90 registered nurses at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Health who are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association, are holding a limited-duration strike, which began Feb. 10 and ends Feb. 24. The home health and hospice nurses at PeaceHealth are striking to protect community health and safety, address the ongoing staffing crisis, combat care delays, and secure equitable pay.

The nurses and PeaceHealth executives have spent nearly a year in unsuccessful contract negotiations, including 40 bargaining sessions. After receiving a strike notice on Jan. 19, PeaceHealth unilaterally canceled its meeting with nurses and a federal mediator and has refused to sit down with nurses for the last month. On Feb. 19, the ONA filed an unfair labor practice charge against PeaceHealth for refusing to meet and bargain with the nurses.

“It’s disappointing that PeaceHealth executives would rather sit back and scroll Instagram than talk to the frontline nurses they count on. Our strike line is only 50 yards from their front door. We’re not hard to find. We’ll meet them anywhere, anytime,” says Jo Turner, a hospice nurse and ONA chair of the PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services bargaining unit. “We love our patients, we love our jobs, and we’d love nothing more than to get a fair contract and get back to work. But we can’t talk to an empty chair. We need PeaceHealth’s executives to show up and prove they care about the people in our community the way nurses do.”

The impact of the labor dispute is evident, with nearly a quarter of home care nurses leaving since their contract expired in April 2023. Another third are contemplating leaving this year if PeaceHealth fails to agree to a fair contract. The exodus of nurses has resulted in care delays for patients and their families, underscoring the essential but often unseen role these nurses play in delivering hospital-quality care to patients’ homes.

Despite their essential work, PeaceHealth continues to lowball the nurses with inequitable compensation offers during bargaining. The compensation PeaceHealth has offered nurses is less than that offered by other similar home health agencies. PeaceHealth’s offers also fall below inflation and ignore the standard practice of compensating hospital and home care nurses equally.

“We need wage equality to keep nurses and hire new ones. Nurses cannot afford to take a pay cut to come work here. To recruit and retain nurses, we need equality,” says Heather Herbert, an ONA member and hospice nurse at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Health. “We are not asking for more or special treatment, just what we have always had and the standard that all other PeaceHealth hospitals have had in Washington and Oregon.”

PeaceHealth is a multibillion-dollar healthcare system that operates medical centers, hospitals and clinics in multiple states. Throughout negotiations, nurses have made it clear their priority is to reach a fair contract agreement that addresses the staffing crisis and workplace safety; increases recruitment and retention of skilled caregivers; protects pay equity; and ensures patients’ access to safe, affordable home health care.

“Nurses are ready to do what it takes to reach a fair agreement with PeaceHealth,” says Turner. “All we’re asking for is dignity, respect, and equal pay for the essential care we provide to vulnerable, homebound patients and their families every day.”

[Adrienne Coles, ONA press release]