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OFNHP will also be holding a dial-in tele-town hall event on July 1st from 6:00-7:30pm where I will present our progress at the national table, where we are bargaining with Kaiser Permanente as part of the 20 union Alliance, as well as answer questions for those interested in learning more.

Click Here to Register for the Tele-Town Hall

This Nurse’s Week, we want to reflect on what the last year has been like for nurses and health professionals. As frontline healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we have lived with the kind of trauma and stress that few will ever have to face. We have seen our patients suffer, our coworkers pushed to the breaking point, and have looked around as communities struggled to stay afloat. Our entire country saw us for the heroes that we are: they cannot do it without us.

While we have been doing the work of saving lives, many of the executives in these hospitals and clinics have raked in

On April 27th, over a hundred union members and supporters walked the picket line at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center over the problems facing the Emergency Department over the proceeding several months. Workers yelled chants, held signs, and helped to raise the voice of the Emergency Department staff, who have put up with dismal working conditions as they fight to give their patients the best care possible.

“What we are trying to do here is draw attention to issues of supply, cleanliness, staffing and staff retention that have been plaguing our department for years.  With a 57%

On April 27^th the nurses and healthcare professionals at the Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center’s Emergency Department will be joining an informational picket to raise the issues of staffing ratios, departmental changes, and patient care. These workers are members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), and are asking that management address many of the concerns that they fear could interfere with their ability to provide patient care.

“We know that when nurses and healthcare professionals have a say in how care is provided, and when we maintain safe staffing levels

PeaceHealth terminated a Pharmarchy Tech, claiming she violated HIPPA. As a Pharmacy Tech that was working in the Emergency Department doing Med Recs, part of her duties is to review the patients file for details needed to completer the work. The Employer claimed she took a deep dive into the patients record and after going through the grievance process we advanced it to Arbitration.

OFNHP provided witness testimony and documents to support that this employee was doing her job. One interesting fact was the Arbitrator ruled that her Weingarten rights were violated when the Pharmacy Manager told

An Unfair Labor Practice charge was filed last summer on behalf of Laurie Heppel, a strong union leader and bargaining chair at PeaceHealth. Laurie was pulled into a meeting with Management and Human Resources because they said they wanted to talk with her about an investigation. Management would not allow her to bring a Steward because they said there was not going to be discipline, just some coaching. At the end of this meeting the Human Resources representative declared the investigation closed and gave Laurie some materials to read. Then Human Resources told Heppel not to speak to anyone

Aric Wardian worked on call at PeaceHealth and punched out at 11:37 PM. He punched into his scheduled shift at 9:30 AM the following morning. PeaceHealth did not pay him his overtime when he punched in at 9:30 AM the next day for that shift, which is what he would have been owed given the way the work hours were experienced. 

When someone has less than ten hours of rest time between shifts, that employee is contractually guaranteed overtime as per our contract (Article 10, Section 10.8 Rest Between Shifts). The Employer claimed the Kronos timekeeping system rounded down to 11:30, so there was

After almost seven years of fighting to address the way that "traveler" nurses are used to fill gaps in RN coverage, we have won a major victory limiting the way that Kaiser Permanente can use these non-union workers. 

The issue was first resolved in 2013 when negotiations with a then executive at KP resulted in an agreement to limit the uses of travelers, leading to a formal agreement in 2014. This agreement was made as an "Issue Resolution" process as a part of the Labor-Management Process (LMP), which could have served as a great example of the partnership in action. Yet after that executive