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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2021)
pagE 2 | October 15, 2021 | NorTHwEST LaBor prESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual ben- efit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils includ- ing the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union or- ganizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: https://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh Office manager: Jill Lukens Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 a year for union members, $23 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affilia- tion, if any. Group rates of 48 cents an issue per member — $11.52 a year are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311 for details. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-ser- vices or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 CORRECTIONS Based on inaccurate information we were provided, we reported in our Oct. 1 issue that the first-ever union contract at Beneficial State Bank covers about 150 employees, but the actual number is 96. An article on the looming Hollywood strike in our Oct. 1 issue identified cdavid cottrill as IATSE Local 488 vice president. But that’s his former title; cot- trill has been southern region business agent for the local since 2019. In a report on the Oregon building trades convention in our Oct. 1 issue, we misidentified a participant on a panel about the council’s history. Retired Pendleton Building Trades leader george gritz took part, but we re- ported it was his son Jeff Gritz, also a Pendleton Building Trades leader and leader of the District Council of Laborers. Hours: Mon-Sat 12-6 pm Closed Sunday Nurse union warns staffing shortage is at crisis levels By Don McIntosh For years, nurse unions have been sounding the alarm about understaffing: Hospitals have not been scheduling enough nurses to serve patients well, and that’s resulting in missed breaks and nurse burnout. Now, 18 months into a global pandemic, the staffing shortage itself is becom- ing an urgent public health crisis, leaders of Oregon Nurses Asso- ciation (ONA) said in an online Oct. 7 press conference. In Oregon, Providence alone has 2,000 openings in caregiver positions, ONA said. Hospitals are employing traveling nurses as an expensive fix. Up to 30% of the nursing staff in some hos- pitals are travelers. Meanwhile, in a union survey at OHSU, 86% of nurses reported fatigue, burnout and morale dis- tress, and 60% said they’re con- sidering leaving the profession. Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccine mandate will make the shortage worse Oct. 18, when hospitals remove the 4% to 10% of nurses who are unvaccinated. “When hospitals are short staffed, you and your family members pay the price,” said ONA president Lynda Pond. “You pay it with 12-hour ER vis- its, you pay it with more hospital injuries and infections. Your grandmother pays it when she has to go back to chemo because her cancer surgery was post- poned due to a lack of staff. We all pay the taxes to cover the cost of hundreds of traveling nurses and 1,500 National Guard mem- bers who are called upon to plug the gaps. And finally, you pay it with a higher risk of death when you enter the hospital. Decades of research have shown that nurse staffing is one of the most effective, affordable ways to keep patients healthy.” ONA isn’t just complaining about the crisis; it’s proposing solutions, if hospitals, the gover- nor, and lawmakers will listen: ■ Hospitals: Start honoring legally required meal and rest breaks, and replace the “buddy system” of breaks with designated break nurses. And end the expensive and unsustainable practice of relying on traveling nurses. ■ Nursing schools: Increase nursing faculty salaries to mirror clinical salaries, and increase the number and size of nursing student scholarships. ■ Governor Brown: Create a commission to systemically review Oregon healthcare staffing ■ Oregon Legislature: Provide loan forgiveness to nursing students who agree to complete four years of work in areas of great need. HoSpITaLS–aND LawMaKErS–NEED To LISTEN To NUrSES. HErE’S wHaT THrEE wHo arE oFFIcErS oF THE orEgoN NUrSES aSSocIaTIoN HaD To Say: STAFFING WAS ALREADY A PROBLEM “Nurses have been demanding that hospi- tals address short staffing for years, and hos- pital executives have ignored us, because it's cheaper to run lean, it's cheaper to stretch the people and resources, it’s cheaper to hire one nurse to do the job of two to three.” –Lynda Pond, Sacred Heart in Springfield THEN THE PANDEMIC TOOK A TOLL ON MORALE “One of the most distressing things is seeing the despair on the nurses’ faces, and the fa- tigue, and it's more profound than I've ever seen. To see the whole ICU filled with the same diagnosis, that never happened. In flu season we might have five or six flu patients in the ICU, not 30 with the same diagnosis. That's like a mass casualty event.” –Matt Calzia, Sacred Heart in Springfield NOW NURSES ARE WORRIED FOR THE FUTURE “We are concerned that burnout will lead to nurses leaving the bedside—and, in Ore- gon, we will not be able to educate a large enough number of nurses to replace them.… Many potential nurses look at the profession with suspicion. Why would a young person choose to enter nursing, when the job is so difficult?” –Natasha Schwartz, OHSU