Around 120 Labcorp laboratory workers serving Providence Portland won their union election yesterday evening, with over 77% of workers voting “Yes” and nearly 90% turning out for the vote. These healthcare workers chose to join the nearly 7,000 member Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), a local affiliate of the 1.8 million member AFT national union. These lab workers are employed by the for-profit company Labcorp, which is contracted by Providence to provide the Portland hospital’s lab services.
“We are incredibly excited about this victory, and looking forward to working with Labcorp to improve conditions for workers and services for patients,” says Allister Brister-Smith, a Laboratory Services Team Lead at Labcorp’s Halsey Street lab, which is the worksite that won their union election.
Labcorp workers, which include highly skilled positions such as medical technologists, lab specialists, and accessioners serve alongside many of the Providence healthcare workers who are currently on strike as members of the AFT-affiliated Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). Labcorp’s self-stated policy is to “operate the Company in a non-union environment,” and during this union organizing drive they hired anti-union consultants in an attempt to persuade their lab professionals against unionizing. Despite Labcorp’s anti-union behavior, OFNHP recently unionized over 450 Labcorp workers at twelve facilities housed in the Legacy hospital system. Those workers are currently negotiating their first union contract. The union alleges that Labcorp engaged in multiple Unfair Labor Practice violations that could have undermined the rights of these workers
These lab professionals were inspired by the thousands of healthcare professionals who are currently striking across the Providence system and acknowledge that they are fighting for the same issues as those currently walking the picket line, such as the need for living wages and safe staffing levels. These workers are the latest in a mass wave of healthcare unionization and worksite victories, both for OFNHP and the broader American labor movement. In 2023, OFNHP led a nearly 1,500 worker strike in the PeaceHealth system, which included lab professionals at PeaceHealth St. John. Later this year OFNHP will negotiate one of the biggest union contracts of the decade with Kaiser Permanente as part of the almost 60,000 worker Alliance of Healthcare Unions, which will include lab professionals that serve the Kaiser Northwest region.