Nurses in the St. Charles Bend intensive care unit treat a COVID-19 patient in May 2021.

Nurses felt positive about their union’s tentative agreement with St. Charles Bend that averted a scheduled walkout.

The agreement was reached after 40 hours of nearly nonstop negotiations that ended Thursday. Nurses will get to vote on the contract starting on Thursday.

“I am relieved that I get to come to work next week and for the community,” said Heather Bristol, a St. Charles Bend nurse for 20 years. “I am hopeful that through (the contract) it will make recruiting easier.”

St. Charles Health Services declined to comment Friday on the tentative agreement. The health system, which owns and operates St. Charles Bend, where the nearly 1,000 nurses are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association, will only comment after the agreement is ratified, said Alandra Johnson, health system spokeswoman.

St. Charles Bend nurse John Nangle, called the contract a win for the community.

“We know that this is going to make a difference,” said Nangle, a nurse for 22 years. “People have already come forward saying that this is what we needed to stay at St. Charles as a nurse.”

The tentative contract also calls for job retention if the health system is sold.

Starting salaries for recent nurse graduates, under the terms of the tentative agreement, will rise 41%, and for nurses with more experience, salaries will rise 33%, according to the terms of the tentative contract.

By comparison, the proposed St. Charles starting wage will be 16% higher than the starting wage at Kaiser Permanente in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the Kaiser contract in 2026, when wages will be at their highest, according to the terms of the Kaiser union contract.

The union believes that the higher wages will go a long way to retaining seasoned workers and recruiting new nurses to fill vacant positions. One of the key issues for nurses was not having enough staff to relieve nurses during their breaks and lunches. The tentative contract calls for assurances that nurses will receive their breaks or be paid for the ones they missed.

St. Charles Bend settles with nurses, averts a strike in marathon negotiations

St. Charles Bend settles with nurses, averts a strike in marathon negotiations

The health system is the largest employer in the region with nearly 4,500 employees at four hospitals.

Former St. Charles CEO Jim Lussier, acknowledged the terms of the tentative agreement would be expensive for the hospital.

“It’s a positive approach,” Lussier told The Bulletin. “I do wonder if it does mean our health care costs will go up. It’s a bit early for us to understand what is happening there and make sure it’s positive for the community.”

Lussier, who was the CEO from 1988 to 2006, said that COVID-19 hurt a lot of hospitals financially, because they were forced to cancel profitable elective surgeries and were required to have higher staffing.

COVID-19 stalled revenue for Oregon hospitals, affecting the operating margins in 2022 and leaving many in the worst financial positions since 1993, according to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

The result was nine consecutive quarters of higher expenses over revenues for Oregon hospitals, forcing hospitals to make difficult choices. For St. Charles that involved 105 people being laid off in 2022.

After two years of losses, St. Charles Health System starts 2023 in the black

After two years of losses, St. Charles Health System starts 2023 in the black

Knute Buehler, a former St. Charles Health System board member from 2007 to 2017, feared that the pay raises spelled out in the tentative contract could put the health system in a “precarious financial position.”

“The health system’s current financial challenges have worsened recently but are years in the making,” Buehler said. “Serious structural deficiencies have severely weakened the foundation of the organization making it exceedingly vulnerable to recent headwinds.”

Barring a last-minute breakthrough, the 1,800 nurses and other caregivers at Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence Seaside Hospital and the Providence system’s home health and hospice operations will go on strike on June 19.

It will be a “limited duration” strike, lasting five days, the Oregon Nurses Association said Friday.

Oregon Nurses Association officials warned Providence of the impending strike Thursday afternoon, a formal 10-day notice required under state law. Richard Botterill, a nurse in the Providence Portland emergency department and chair of the nurse’s bargaining unit, said about 95% of the Providence nurses approved the strike in a vote that concluded on Sunday.

Providence officials could not immediately be reached for comment. In an earlier statement it said it was “disappointed” by the nurses’ plan.

— Jeff Manning, The Oregonian