Local health care workers say they’re showing symptoms of poor benefits and a low staff count, and some believe a union is the best prescription.
Today and Thursday, 313 licensed technical professionals at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center will decide whether to unionize under the umbrella of the American Federation of Teachers and its Oregon Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals affiliate. An AFT organizer said the fight centers around better pay and health care benefits as well as a pushback against layoffs and low staffing levels.
Union supporters say the imminent vote appears to have at least the required 50 percent-plus-one-vote support among the workers, who include CT technologists, ultrasound techs, MRI techs and many others.
“I expect us to win with a very large margin,” said Joe Crane, an organizer with AFT.
PeaceHealth Southwest has asked employees to vote against the union.
“We prefer a direct relationship with our caregivers, and believe the ability to work directly with each other is in everyone’s best interest,” said Kelley Frengle, director of human resources for the hospital. “Nevertheless, PeaceHealth respects our caregivers’ rights to join a union. Consistent with our core values of respect and collaboration, we will bargain in good faith if caregivers do choose to be represented by a third party.”
Several unions represent workers across the 10-hospital PeaceHealth system based in Vancouver, though an exact count was not made available. At PeaceHealth Southwest, nurses and operating engineers are represented by two different unions.
There could be a third union at Southwest after votes are tallied for and against the PeaceHealth Caregivers United.
For CT technologist Eric Quinn, the two-year organizing process that led to the vote was in large part motivated by layoffs late in 2013 that saw 120 jobs, mostly in support staff, eliminated.
“The resulting atmosphere in the medical center was like a death in the family; it was crushing but it was also unsafe,” said the 47-year-old Vancouver resident. “We did not have enough people to do the job, and we felt patient care and employee safety was being put at risk.”
Health care benefits are also a big driver behind the unionizing efforts. Quinn said a co-worker told him that “our insurance is so bad, once I turn 25 I need to leave.”
PeaceHealth said its health care benefits for caregivers are above-average.
“It is important for everyone to know that PeaceHealth caregivers currently receive health care benefit options that are superior to regional and national averages,” Frengle wrote in an email. “PeaceHealth covers 82 to 100 percent of the monthly premium cost for our caregivers. … Additionally, in the group voting this week, most caregivers have received six wage increases of at least 2 percent (13.25 percent total) in the past five years.”
But in the diagnostic imaging department, medical sonographer Vienna Wagstaff pointed again to layoffs in recent years and asked why the hospital is paying millions for consultants and top executives while leaving the hospital “hugely understaffed.”
“This new executive team may be well-intentioned, but middle management is still in place with the same attitudes,” said Wagstaff, 59, who has been at the hospital since 2002, before PeaceHealth acquired the hospital. “When I started it was a really good place to work. It’s so far from that now it’s scary.”
The Hazel Dell resident also said her hours had been cut, leaving many support departments “cut to the bone.”
“Let’s cut at the top instead of cutting at the heart,” Wagstaff said.
For a short time, the Service Employees International Union was on the ballot alongside AFT, though that is no longer the case.
“We’ve been in conversations with workers there and with workers in the service units, who are interested in actively organizing with our union,” said SEIU Local 49 spokesman Jesse Stemmler. “Our union represents a majority of caregivers from across the PeaceHealth system, including the 1,100 caregivers who just recently organized and settled their first, historic contract at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart in Eugene (Ore.).”
Quinn and Wagstaff aren’t among those interested in SEIU representation, and with Crane they have accused the union of “muddying the water” at PeaceHealth Southwest.
“Their tactics just don’t make sense for any kind of long-term union efforts,” Crane said.
Crane said if the vote for PeaceHealth Caregivers United succeeds, the next steps will be organizing a bargaining team to submit a contract proposal.
“My job is to bring people together, not to do the organizing or the work,” Crane said. “It’s going to be a rush to start negotiating as soon as possible.”
The hospital wouldn’t speculate on specific union demands or its potential response.
“PeaceHealth is committed to providing wages and benefits that are fair, just and competitive,” Frengle wrote. “We have asked the 313 caregivers to vote no in this case, so that we can continue to focus together on continuous improvement in health care services on behalf of our patients and community.”
Quinn and Wagstaff said there has been some pushback from management over unionizing efforts, including fliers and meetings. But they remain undeterred.
“The more I learn, the more I see people active, the more I see there’s passion,” Quinn said. “We need to be united.”
