As healthcare professionals who support patients in the PeaceHealth system, as well as members of a union that have fought to improve our hospital system, we are voicing our complete support for the fifteen Physicians, Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants who are organizing a union at the PeaceHealth Urgent Care and Walk-In Clinics in Lane County, Oregon. PeaceHealth Providers United is a group of clinicians who are fighting to confront the same issues that we have on our agenda: ensuring full staffing, granting medical professionals a voice, and addressing issues of equity and justice in our healthcare system.
We know that these clinicians had fought for months to see improvements in their workplaces, but they came to the conclusion that the only way to truly see reforms is to become a legally recognized union. They released an open letter signed by all members of the proposed unit asking for voluntary recognition from management. Management can choose to recognize a group of workers who announce the formation of a union, respecting their right to organize and advocate through a labor organization. Instead of accepting the presence of their workers’ advocacy, the PeaceHealth administration denied recognition and pushed them to run a union election despite having unanimous support.
We know that understaffing is at a crisis not just in PeaceHealth, but around the country as healthcare professionals face burnout from trauma, pandemic exposure, and chronic overwork. PeaceHealth has known about this understaffing issue since it was forced to close their Valley River Clinic last year due to a lack of safe staffing levels, yet they have not taken sufficient measures to fill the gaps, encourage new hires, or offer resources to keep the talented staff they already have. These clinicians even allege that retaliation was experienced by one of their leaders and she was refused a per diem position that could have helped with their staffing needs.
The patients in this region are often from marginalized and underserved communities, and we are seeing wait times of multiple hours because management has failed to fill the staffing holes. These types of wait times could turn an urgent situation into an emergency, an emergency into a potentially fatal crisis. Patient outcomes are the most important issue for these clinicians, as it is for the PeaceHealth healthcare professionals OFNHP represents, so they are often working past their twelve hour shifts and still unable to provide the level of care they believe their patients deserve.
Enough is enough. It is time that PeaceHealth responds to these workers’ NLRB petition and accepts the new union. By working with the union instead of against it, management can foster the kind of dynamic solutions that improve care and make PeaceHealth the type of organization that can maintain staffing levels and reduce turnover. By fighting this union they are working against the best interests of their patients since we know that healthcare unions are amongst the most effective organizations in the country advocating for proper patient care. The unionized staff at PeaceHealth in Eugene will do whatever it takes to support these clinicians and will join them in solidarity actions to show that we are sticking together in unity. Only by working together across bargaining units are we able to have the power necessary to improve the healthcare of our entire community. We are proud to stand alongside PeaceHealth Providers United.