Nurses claim victory in contract with Mid-Columbia Medical Center
Image taken from Oregon Nurses Association news release.
By Tom Peterson
Local Nurses voted on Monday, Nov. 1, in favor of a contract with Mid-Columbia Medical Center that will give them a 10 percent pay increase during the next three years and promises to give nurses greater input on their schedules, according to Myrna Jensen, Communications Specialist with the Oregon Nurses Association.
Jensen said the deal had the end effect of creating better care for locals.
“It’s ensuring they have the time to recharge and having a schedule that creates a life-work balance,” Jensen said on Wednesday, Oct. 3. She noted that nurses work 12-hour shifts, and it is necessary for them to get regular breaks, good scheduling and vacations to avoid burnout.
Nurses will receive a 4 percent raise in the first year of the contract and 3 percent raises in the following two years. The contract went into effect immediately, according to Jensen.
The contract brings local nurses in closer alignment with pay at neighboring hospitals, Jensen said. “The hospital needs to realize they need to be competitive with other hospitals in the area so that The Dalles has the best care. “
CCCNew’s has requested the contract and will publish it when it becomes available.
In the meantime, Jensen directed me to their latest news release, giving much detail on the deal.
The contract comes after 4 months of what outwardly appeared to be tough negotiations as nurses said that they had been working without a contract since June 30th, 2021.
They also held two rallies in The Dalles and wore green union shirts at work in solidarity to bring the deal to fruition.
“The community was a big part of reaching this contract,” Jensen said, noting support from locals created enough pressure on hospital administration to put the deal together. “Their activism was a big part of getting this contract, and the nurses are incredibly grateful for that.”
On Monday, Mid-Columbia Medical Center posted on its website that “it is pleased to announce a new collective bargaining agreement with Oregon Nurses Association.
The organization congratulated itself.
“We want to thank both bargaining teams -- from MCMC and ONA -- for their commitment to the bargaining process. We are incredibly grateful to our nurses for their ongoing commitment to MCMC, our patients and our community,” it states.
It mentions nothing about what drove the adversarial negotiations in the first place. MCMC’s Director of Business Development Travis Dray said on Wednesday, Nov. 3, they did not want to say more than what was put out on the website.
Issues with management became apparent in April after a staff survey at MCMC by the Oregon Nurses Association.
“Many nurses shared that low retention of staff is an issue right now at MCMC. Several departments have high turnover (nurses, lab, physicians, etc.) which results in a loss of our most experienced staff at MCMC. Many nurses identified that this contributes to staffing issues,” the ONA bargaining newsletter states.
Many health care workers have left MCMC in the past year. Read CCCNews’ story about that here.
On Sept. 29, The Oregon Nurses Association stated that local nurses attempted to present MCMC Executive Director Dennis Knox with a petition in support of nurses stating:
MCMC Executive Director Dennis Knox
“But the administration of Mid-Columbia Medical Center is failing us, our patients and our entire community. Since negotiations began in April, we have worked hard to help the administration understand the need for well-rested nurses who can create their own work-life balance. Research has repeatedly shown that nurses who are free to take their mandatory breaks and have control of their schedules provide better care, make fewer mistakes, and are less likely to burn out or look for work elsewhere.”
To read the whole petition, click here.
