Health care workers at St. Anthony Hospital vote to join Oregon Nurses Association
By Dan Thesman on Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
News release from Oregon Nurses Association
PENDLETON – Thirty-nine health care workers, including radiology technologists, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians and other workers at CHI St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton overwhelmingly voted for union representation through the Oregon Nurses Association August 23.
The technical workers identified a wide range of issues as their primary reasons for organizing a union, including ensuring safe staffing, providing high quality care for patients and their community, and seeking equitable wages. Radiology technologists—a highly skilled group 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. Respiratory therapists point to the staffing crisis, having to work with a skeleton crew, and the inability to take vacation as among the reasons they decided to unionize.
A number of these staff also cited victories achieved by ONA-represented nurses at the hospital, including retention incentives and patient care improvements, as among the many reasons they decided to join the Oregon Nurses Association.
“This victory is about protecting ourselves and exercising our right to collectively bargain with our employer for fair and equitable wages and safe working conditions, just like our nurses at the hospital do,” said Katie Heath, a Radiology Technologist at St. Anthony. “We as health care workers have the power to change our future and have a voice in the workplace. We have the power to create the work environment our patients, families, and community deserve. We as employees are not numbers and our voices matter — we showed that today with our union victory. We are health care workers fighting for the wellbeing of our community and every patient that comes through our doors. Now onto the bargaining table!”
With a successful vote, members will now move on to electing a bargaining team, circulating surveys to determine key issues to be the focus of bargaining with management, and set bargaining dates to achieve their first contract.
This vote is one of a number of successful new union organizing drives across the state which ONA has been part of, including efforts of health care providers with the St. Charles Health System in Bend, providers in Eugene, and nurses at Samaritan North Lincoln City hospital in Lincoln City.
“Health care workers, technicians, providers and nurses across the state are recognizing the power unions have to impact their working conditions and the quality of care they provide to their patients,” said Anne Tan Piazza, ONA’s Executive Director. “We are so honored to be representing these professionals and look forward to working hand in hand to give them the voice they deserve in their hospitals and clinics. Their patients, their communities, and the entire state will benefit from these efforts.”
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state. We are a proud state affiliate of AFT and the American Nurses Association. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.
