As they brace for a second month without a contract, a crowd of nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center gathered outside the hospital Wednesday calling for better pay and working conditions.

From late afternoon into the evening, roughly two dozen nurses and union organizers held an informational picket near the hospital’s sign at the intersection of Crater Lake Avenue and West McAndrews Road.

Among them was Vicki Knudsen, who has worked as a medical-surgical nurse registered nurse for nearly 22 years at the hospital and is the Oregon Nurses Association bargaining chair for Providence Medford nurses.

She said at the rally that she makes “just pennies” more per hour than a nurse of six years at the much smaller Providence hospital in Seaside. She said Medford’s nurses are “working 30% harder” for “30% to 50% less” compared to other hospitals in more populous parts of the state, but that Southern Oregon nurses face their own challenges that merit similar pay.

“We have a harder patient population to deal with,” Knudsen said, citing as an example a proportionally higher unhoused population.

The picket was not a strike, and no nurses left their post for the demonstration. It serves as an informational event intended to raise public awareness ahead of the next bargaining session impacting roughly 400 nurses represented by the union. Ahead of the negotiations, there were signs that the two sides are far apart.

Demonstrators pushed for a host of issues at the rally, including better RN staffing, better paid time off and better health benefits. Providence, in prepared statements ahead of the rally, focused primarily on wages and how the hospital offered a 14% wage increase — about $7 to $8 more per hour — in a March proposal that was declined with no counteroffer.

“Providence Medford Medical Center is ready and serious about negotiating a fair and competitive contract for our nurses, but we cannot negotiate with ourselves,” the statement reads. “We are eager to continue to negotiate at the bargaining table and agree on a contract for our nurses.”

Caroline Allison, a Providence RN also on the ONA negotiating team, said, “We proposed the wages we deserve.” She said nurses are “having a hard time making ends meet” and need higher wages that can compete with other areas to draw top talent.

“We’re held to the same standards, yet somehow we’re behind,” Allison said.

According to an email from Kate Kitchell, chief nursing officer at Providence Medford, there have been nine bargaining sessions since January, and the hospital has reached agreement with ONA on all but two articles — including parts related to wages and benefits.

“The ONA team has told us that they don’t intend to make a proposal about these articles until June,” Kitchell said in her email.

Providence Medford is the latest hospital in the health system to run on expired contracts. Contracts for nurses at Providence St. Vincent, Providence Newberg, Providence Hood River and Providence Willamette Falls have all expired, while contracts at Providence Milwaukie expire at the end of May. Nurses at Providence St. Vincent and Providence Newberg have voted to authorize strikes if necessary.

Four more bargaining sessions are scheduled; the next one happens Wednesday. Providence statewide representative Jaki Salgado said at the rally that they intend to negotiate in good faith. She said the union’s goals are for the hospital to be better able to recruit and retain with competitive wages, but she said the contract must be fair.

“We hope to continue conversations in May,” Salgado said. “We want to close out this contract and move on.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to correct that Knudsen works as a medical-surgical nurse.