Picket August 15th at St. Charles Demanding Fair Union Contract and Safe Staffing

Bend, OR.—  Today, August 15th, the Technical employees at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon will be walking the picket line to demand that management agree to common sense proposals that will help secure safe staffing and living wages for healthcare workers. These healthcare professionals, who are members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), AFT Local 5017, have been in negotiations over their next union contract for months. These are workers who are employed in high

On June 27th, OFNHP Treasurer Joshua Holt participated in a lobbying event at the United States Capitol sponsored by the American Nurses Association (ANA). Holt, an RN since 2010 and a past-Chair of the Kaiser RN Bargaining Unit, has served in union leadership since 2016 He is a member of the Cabinet on Health Policy for the Oregon Nurses Association, the statewide affiliate of the ANA and professional association for nurses in Oregon. 

This year’s lobbying efforts were tied to four key legislative goals: 

1. Restricting mandatory overtime for nurses
2. Support for the Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction

Dear Members of the Oregon Nurses Association,

As members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP - AFT Local 5017), representing over 2,500 RNs in Oregon and SW Washington, as well as Nurse Practitioners and other healthcare professionals, we are writing to express our unwavering support for your Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strikes. The challenges and injustices you are facing resonate deeply with us, and we stand in solidarity with you during this critical time.

Healthcare professions demand not only our skill and dedication, but also a working environment that

On Monday, June 3rd, over 20 nurses and supporters marched on their boss to demand an end to wage theft and timecard irregularities that have gone unaddressed for weeks. After their steward council meeting, having already confronted HR, KP workers assembled at Kaiser Sunnyside and marched on their boss.

“Multiple RN staff have been underpaid to this day, and we find this unacceptable,” read Jennifer Kaley to Adam Van Den Avyle, the overseeing hospital administrator. For months, people’s paychecks have been incorrect: sometimes, their overtime or increased pay rates were downgraded to straight

On May 23rd, 260 healthcare workers in the professional bargaining unit at PeaceHealth Southwest successfully won their union election by a rate of 80% for Home Health and 65% for hospital-based. These workers joined 1,700 other PeaceHealth healthcare professionals in affiliating with the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), a local affiliate of the 1.7 million AFT Nurses and Health Professionals. These healthcare professionals’ overwhelming support for unionization came at the end of years of grassroots organizing, driven by issues like short staffing, uncompetitive