Legacy Health workers on Wednesday said they reached a tentative agreement to end a strike now in its fourth week.
The 140 striking advanced practice providers — nurse practitioners, physician associates and clinical nurse specialists who unionized in 2023 — will need to ratify the agreement in a vote that will begin Friday and conclude at noon Saturday.
The workers, stationed at Legacy hospitals and clinics in Oregon and southwest Washington, began their strike Dec. 2. They’re one of several newly organized unions representing groups of Legacy health workers, and the first to reach a tentative labor agreement.
The Oregon Nurses Association, the labor union representing the workers, said the tentative agreement includes across-the-board pay raises, new pay scales and pay increases in the second and third year of the contract.
The union said the contract would make Legacy wages more competitive with similarly situated workers at Oregon Health & Science University without fully closing the gap. Legacy and OHSU called off a plan to merge earlier this year.
Legacy Health confirmed the tentative agreement, but said the deal is “materially consistent” with an offer from Nov. 20, just before the practitioners gave their state-mandated 10-day strke notice.
“The tentative agreement follows more than 30 bargaining and mediation sessions over approximately 20 months,” the health care organization said. “Legacy has remained committed throughout the process to reaching a mutually agreeable contract that supports (advanced practice providers) while maintaining the long-term financial sustainability of the organization.”
The workers will remain on strike until the agreement is ratified, the nurses union said.