At 8am on Tuesday in an undisclosed location in Salem, top leaders of the Oregon Nurses Association and Providence Health in Oregon met in person for the first time in months.
There, they heard a sense of urgency from none other than Gov. Tina Kotek — who’d called the meeting just 24 hours before, and was there to address the two sides in person. That came in contrast with previous weeks, when she communicated with either side remotely.
Come to an agreement, she urged them, and end Oregon’s largest-ever health care strike — soon.
Now, days later, the extent to which the state’s top elected official is intervening as the strike enters its fourth week is a first for her. And it suggests the impasse could end a lot sooner than it appeared just days before.
On its face, the situation seems pretty clear, said former state Senator Rick Metsger, now a Salem lobbyist who is not involved in the standoff.
“Knowing the governor,” said Metsger, “She gets right to the point. She is not ambiguous and she is really focused on action.”
The joint statement issued by both sides that they are back at the table for “intensive” mediation, therefore, reflects Kotek’s clout and her willingness to use it.
“I don't know what tools she has available. But whatever tools she thinks she has available, the implication is she's going to use them” if the strike goes on, Metsger added.
Meeting Kotek on Tuesday morning meeting were Anne Tan Piazza, executive director of the union, and Jennifer Burrows, CEO for Providence in Oregon, as well as their chief negotiators.
Metsger said, “If I'm one of those two people, I'm thinking, ‘I better resolve this — or I might not like the solution that the governor is going to put out there.’”
Intervention brings a new dynamic
Both sides had appeared to be digging in for the long haul since Jan. 10, when more than 4,000 nurses, physicians and other providers walked out from eight Providence hospitals and six women’s clinics starting at 6a.m.
“There is much conversation that needs to take place,” a Providence statement said one week into the walkout. “This strike might be lengthy.”
The union, for its part, had publicized its GoFundMe set up to help striking workers, which recently surpassed $75,000 raised.
Meanwhile, over the past three weeks, the two sides have repeatedly accused each other of sneaky, bad faith unreasonableness.
However, in the wake of the joint announcement Wednesday, both sides have gone largely silent.
Whether intentional or not, the rhetorical cease-fire has brought down the temperature around the closed-door contract talks — talks that are happening intensively for the first time in a very long while.
Representatives of the nurses association, like Providence, declined to discuss the situation other than pointing reporters to their joint announcement.
The union gave more detail in a Jan. 29 communication with its members, however, characterizing the ongoing talks as “round the clock” and saying it would temporarily halt its daily updates.
“This is an important development in our strike and bargaining process,” it said. “We see this is an opportunity to take significant steps toward resolving the strike, settling a fair contract, and addressing our core issues of safe staffing, PTO, health care, competitive wages, and contract durations. This process will be intensive and given the complexity of the negotiations we will not be able to send detailed updates on bargaining on a nightly basis.”
Key dates approaching
While some Providence workers on strike received reduced paychecks on Jan 17, Jan. 31 marks the first day the workers walking out receive no income at all.
Those that walk the picket line will be eligible to receive hardship funds, but those payments are not designed to keep the workers whole, union spokespeople stressed. Rather, they help workers deal with costs they can’t afford.
Not only that, but as of Feb 1, how long Providence continues to cover striking employees with health insurance becomes a question.
One union official told The Lund Report state law offers mixed messages on whether Providence needs to cover workers after Feb. 1 — but that the union was prepared to go to court to prove the health system was obligated to do so until March 1.
Providence, in a Jan. 30 blog post addressed to caregivers, has said only that it will continue coverage after Jan. 31 — “into February” — but did not say for how long.
The potential cutoff of coverage is “a big thing,” said Gordon Lafer, a University of Oregon professor who serves as co-director of its Labor Education & Research Center.
“And it's scary, even if the messaging is ambiguous, right? You're like, ‘Well, I don't know. I might lose my health insurance.’ That's a hard position to be in.”
The Providence blog post also urged those on strike to come back to work starting Friday— dropping its earlier requirement that employees either declare their intention to keep working by Jan 10, or not be scheduled for shifts.
“Caregivers who want to return should not report to their unit until they’ve spoken with their core leader and confirmed the date and time to return,” it said. “If a caregiver’s schedule is filled by a replacement worker, their next scheduled shift may be up to five days after they notify their core leader of their availability.”
Lafer, for his part, said his hope is that Kotek’s intervention leads both sides to come to an agreement that boosts staffing levels, helping to combat the burnout and moral injury that he said threatens to permanently damage the U.S. health care system.
“If that doesn't happen,” he said, “we're going to be in a downward spiral where more people are quitting the profession or not going into it, and then — I don't know what happens.”