OHSU nurses rally for a new contract with safe staffing, long-term COVID-19 protections

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    Portland, OR (KPTV) — OHSU nurses say they’re fighting for their own safety and their patients in trying to reach a contract agreement with the hospital.

One of their biggest concerns is getting long-term protections for COVID-19.

A spokesperson for the Oregon Nurses Association said they’ve been negotiating a new contract with OHSU since January.

The last contract ended two months ago, and he said things like paid COVID-19 sick leave and the task force that does pandemic planning are only in place until the end of this year. They want those things to continue with a new contract.

Some of OHSU’s nearly 3,000 registered nurses held a rally for a new contract at the hospital Wednesday night.

“We’re just asking OHSU to commit to really providing a contract for us that keeps us safe, keeps our patients safe, OHSU Registered Nurse Amanda Elegant said.

The Oregon Nurses Association representing the RN’s says they want safe staffing, patient care improvements, and long-term COVID-19 protections.

“As cases are increasing, the safety protections nurses are relying on will disappear. That is why we need things like a pandemic task force in the contract, that’s why we need paid sick leave in the contract, that’s why we need groups that will look at and determine how to apportion PPE going forward,” ONA spokesperson Kevin Mealy said.

Elegant said the pandemic has been hard enough; now they have to deal with this on top of it.

“I worked on the COVID floor for three months, I worked day in and day out wearing the PPE, it’s been exhausting,” she said. “We have short-term commitments, but this isn’t going away any time soon.”

When it comes to staffing, the nurses said there aren’t enough of them to go around when they’re covering each other during breaks.

“I might be expected to care for my two to three critically ill patients as well as their two to three critically ill patients, it may only be for fifteen minutes, but fifteen minutes is a really long time in the span for critically ill patients,” Neonatal ICU Nurse Deanna Kavanugh said.

Fox 12 asked OHSU why the hospital hasn’t reached an agreement with the nurses if they can assure COVID-19 protections beyond the end of this year, and what their response is to staffing concerns.

A hospital spokesperson sent a statement:

“OHSU greatly values the vital contributions of our employees represented by the Oregon Nursing Association, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to reach an agreement that provides competitive, comprehensive compensation in recognition of their hard work. Some great progress has been made in our negotiations to date; however we have not yet reached agreement on economics or staffing issues. Under Oregon law for public organizations like OHSU, if the parties cannot reach agreement on their own, a mediator is the next step. ONA has expressed interest in avoiding mediation, and OHSU is willing to continue working without a mediator as long as we continue to make progress.”

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