St. Anthony workers attempt to unionize
By Terry Murry on Thursday, July 7th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News Featured Stories
News release from the Oregon Nurses Association:
Forty health care technical workers at CHI St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon have filed for union recognition with the National Labor Relations Board. The group, comprised of imaging technicians, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians, lab technicians, and sleep lab technicians, will be represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). ONA already represents frontline registered nurses working at CHI St. Anthony Hospital.
The technical workers identified a wide range of issues as their primary reasons for organizing, including ensuring safe staffing, providing high quality care and seeking equitable wages. Imaging technicians—a highly skilled group of technologists who use specialized equipment to create internal images used by doctors to diagnose and treat patients—have wages that are well behind their colleagues at other hospital systems.
“Imaging techs’ wages are way behind industry standard, have not kept up with the cost of living and are not reflective of our experience,” said Katie Heath, an imaging tech as St. Anthony’s and one of the staff members supporting the union effort. “Unionizing will give us the opportunity to address these kinds of wage discrepancies and will help us recruit and retain the best and most qualified staff. Being in a union means we will have a seat at the table to help raise standards for our community.”
Respiratory techs at St. Anthony’s have been working with a skeleton crew, are regularly denied time off, and have been forced to work inconsistent schedules to cover for short staffing. Many are feeling burned out and have considered leaving the hospital for other work.
“We want respect, we want safer staffing, and we want to have a voice on issues the impact our patients, our communities and our careers,” said Derek Skufca, a respiratory therapist at St. Anthony’s and a union supporter. “All of us know that joining a union will empower us to achieve those goals.”
The National Labor Relations Board will hold a hearing in mid-July to determine a union election date.
Image: Ken Morrison and Denise Rho are pictured via the Oregon Nurses Association release.
