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Tensions rise in union drive at St. Charles in Bend

The push to establish a new union to represent 304 doctors, physician assistants and others is now before the National Labor Relations Board.
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St. Charles Health System in Bend. | COURTESY OF ST. CHARLES HEALTH
December 13, 2022

Tensions are rising in a union drive by doctors, nurses and other employees at St. Charles Medical Group in Bend, as workers criticize the nonprofit hospital system for bringing in two anti-union consultants.

The Central Oregon Providers Network, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor saying the two consultants failed to properly fill out forms that report the activity of labor relations consultants.

On the forms, the consultants failed to note that they were contracted with regard to the Central Oregon Providers Network unionization push, the union complained. That omission “appears to be intended to obscure the efforts of these consultants,” the complaint said.

The union filing draws attention to the presence of the consultants even as the National Labor Relations Board mulls whether the proposed work unit complies with federal law, allowing a unionization vote by workers.

The effort to establish union representation for the 304 employees is unusual in that it seeks to include doctors as well as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and social workers.

Across the country, a small but growing number of doctors are seeking to join the ranks of hospital nurses, medical techs, food workers and others who are already unionized.

The St. Charles workers in August submitted signature cards and filed a request with the NLRB for an election to certify the union. The labor board recently held a hearing on the issue and a decision is pending.

A St. Charles spokesperson said she was unaware of the complaint about the consultants and had no comment.

One of the consultants, Marla Bardi of Florida, declined to comment to The Lund Report. The other consultant, Rebecca Bannon of Montana, could not be reached for comment.

While highlighting the omission on the forms, the union argues that the more important issue is that St. Charles is spending money on “union busters” when it claims financial distress.

“St. Charles doesn’t miss an opportunity to claim it’s broke yet hires union-busting firms to convince medical professionals not to vote for a union. It’s shameful,” said Debbie Rief-Adams, a St. Charles nurse practitioner in a statement.

Like many other hospital systems, St. Charles has been wrenched financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. At St. Charles and elsewhere in Oregon, profitable surgeries have been postponed and labor expenses have soared as costly temporary workers were hired to help with pandemic-related care, and many long-time workers retired or left the field.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, St. Charles reported operating expenses of $781 million but operating revenues of only $751 million, making for an operating loss of $30 million, according to its latest financial filing. The system also reported that its investment portfolio shed $123 million of its value in that time, and that cash and investments were down to $646 million. Hospital investment portfolios nationwide have been hurt by the sagging stock market as well as by rising interest rates that bruised bond values.

Tense Labor Relations

While reporting financial difficulties, St. Charles is facing a number of labor issues among its 4,300 workers.

The nonprofit consists of four hospitals plus a clinic network. The workers currently seeking union recognition are employed by St. Charles Medical Group, which works for the St. Charles system.

The union argues the drive would cover a range of non-managerial medical professionals, many highly trained and paid. The hospital contends that doctors cannot be part of the union because they are managers. The dispute is now in the hands of the labor board.

Doctors and others leading the unionizing drive have said they want to push for more and better staffing. St. Charles laid off workers to save money earlier this year.

“St. Charles made what we consider very poor decisions before and during the pandemic … that put our health care system in this terrible financial crisis,” said Dr. Joshua Plank, a hospitalist at St. Charles, and a leader of the union push, in a news report this summer.

Meanwhile, a small group of St. Charles workers, including home health registered nurses and hospice care registered nurses, recently voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the Oregon Nurses Association, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. The work unit, which covers 37 workers, voted 29-5 in favor of unionizing, the NLRB announced on Dec. 8.

Among the next steps is to begin negotiating a contract.

“Forming a union provides us the opportunity to better advocate for our patients and ourselves,” said registered nurse Cherie Iannucci, in a news release. “We take care of people after they leave the hospital, to prevent them from being readmitted. Readmissions add to the strain that our hospitals face right now due to surging cases of RSV, COVID-19 and the flu.” 

Contract Negotiations Loom

The Oregon Nurses Association already represents about 1,200 nurses at St. Charles. Their contract expires at the end of December and the sides are preparing for negotiations.

Another group is also unionized at St. Charles: About 150 technicians and technology workers who are represented by another affiliate of the national teachers union, the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professional. That group voted to form a union in 2019. Contract negotiations dragged on, prompting the union to go on strike in 2021, after which the sides settled on a contract.

Unionization has surged in the health care sector amid the pandemic. Bannon and Bardi, the two consultants that the providers’ union complained about, have been busy around the country working for health care and other employers and urging employees not to organize.  

According to filings with the Department of Labor, in recent months Bannon has worked for Loma Linda University in California, a health care institution where residents are seeking to organize; and for hospitals and other health care organizations in Maine, Colorado, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Illinois where a range of workers are seeking to unionize. Bardi, meanwhile, has worked for the hospital system MaineHealth, where nurses are seeking to organize, as well as for a health organization in Massachusetts, plus for Dollar General, at retail stores in Connecticut where workers are seeking to organize.

You can reach Christian Wihtol at [email protected].

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