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After insisting it would not meet with a group of striking health providers until their work stoppage ended, Legacy Health relented somewhat, agreeing to mediation.
“This is a huge step forward and a sign that the APP’s strike is working,” said the Oregon Nurses Association in a statement Friday evening.
But the ensuing talks that took place Monday morning left the union underwhelmed. Its communications team wrote that, “while ONA arrived prepared to work—offering to meet every day until a fair contract is reached—Legacy flatly rejected that path. Their counteroffer? Refuse to return to the table until Dec. 18 unless the strike ends. That is ten more days of unnecessary disruption, unsafe staffing, and uncertainty for patients and the workers who care for them.”
Legacy Health has a slightly different account. In a statement, the system said it had shared its “final offer” with ONA before the strike started, and have yet to receive a response. It said it met Monday with a federal mediator at the request of the ONA, but did not detail how the meeting went.
“Our next scheduled mediation session is on Dec. 18, which is when the ONA-requested mediator is next available,” the health system’s statement said. “Should the mediator have an earlier date available, we will meet earlier.”
In any case, the ONA said the strike would go on.
About 135 advanced practice providers—nurse practitioners, physician associates, certified nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists—who work at Legacy hospitals and clinics throughout the Portland area have been on strike for a week.
Pushing for their first labor contract since organizing with the ONA as part of a major unionization wave at Legacy, the workers argue their compensation lags behind counterparts at other area health care institutions. The ONA pointed to a the recent contract approved by 700 APPs at Oregon Healthy & Science University as further evidence of this disconnect.
“They deserve every part of that contract and I know it will serve them and their patients well,” said Leigh Warsing, a physician associate at Legacy, in a written statement. “But the concerns about losing providers to OHSU are now even greater. Legacy needs to step up to the table and offer us a competitive contract, so we don’t lose more of our colleagues to OHSU.”
Legacy has said its offer includes a 10% average pay bump and is more than fair. “As with all staffing and compensation decisions, we must balance the needs of the entire organization,” it said in a statement last week. “The bargaining unit includes 135 employees out of our 14,000-person workforce, all of whom deserve fair and responsible stewardship of resources.”
