PAGE 2 | May 19, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
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Overworked, underpaid nurses conduct May Day picket outside
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor hospital in Florence
PeaceHealth made movement
toward an agreement with Ore-
gon Nurses Association (ONA)
May 8 — a week after more
than 100 nurses and supporters
picketed the health network’s
hospital in Florence, Oregon.
ONA represents 75 nurses at
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor
Medical Center, a 21-bed acute
care hospital. They’ve been bar-
gaining since November 2016
and have been working without
a union contract since Jan. 31,
2017. ONA spokesperson
Kevin Mealy says members
want an end to excessive on-
call assignments that result in
overwork and unpredictable
schedules. They also want
wages to catch up with nurses at
other PeaceHealth hospitals.
The starting wage for registered
nurses at Peace Harbor is cur-
rently $33 per hour.
“It’s difficult to get nurses to
come to Florence and make it
their home,” Mealy said, be-
cause of the lower wages and a
scarcity of affordable housing.
As a result, a number of nurses
commute 80 minutes from Eu-
gene, 60 miles east.
At the May 8 bargaining ses-
Nurses and supporters rally May 1 at the intersection of US 101 and Oregon 126 in Florence. (Photo courtesy of Ore-
gon Nurses Association)
sion — a 12-hour session facil-
itated by a federal mediator —
PeaceHealth presented propos-
als that address on-call require-
ments and wage disparities.
PeaceHealth, headquartered
in Vancouver, Washington, is a
nonprofit Catholic health care
system with 10 hospitals in
Washington, Oregon, and
Alaska.