{"id":398208,"date":"2026-01-10T00:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398208\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:20:13","slug":"allied-health-workers-unionize-at-major-portland-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398208\/","title":{"rendered":"Allied Health Workers Unionize at Major Portland Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A large group of Providence Portland Medical Center workers have voted to join the Oregon Nurses Association, bolstering union power at the major city hospital. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The new union cohort comprises diagnostic imaging technologists, respiratory therapists, surgical technicians, and others\u2014269 allied health workers in all, according to a federal record of the vote, which was tallied Wednesday night. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Of those who voted, 181 supported joining the union, while 49 opposed doing so, records show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAs executive compensation continues to increase and staffing routinely runs short, the unit is looking to improve working conditions and secure just-cause protections,\u201d ONA spokeswoman Myrna Jensen wrote in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Part of a massive multistate health system, Providence stands among Oregon\u2019s largest employers. In a statement to WW, a spokesperson said Providence \u201crespects the decision of our caregivers and looks forward to negotiating in good faith on the terms of a first contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With Wednesday\u2019s vote, ONA says it now represents 1,685 workers at Providence Portland and more than 24,000 workers around the state. Its ranks have grown significantly in recent years, and the union has flexed its might, helping make Oregon nurses the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beckershospitalreview.com\/compensation-issues\/rn-pay-for-all-50-states-adjusted-by-cost-of-living-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.beckershospitalreview.com\/compensation-issues\/rn-pay-for-all-50-states-adjusted-by-cost-of-living-2025\/\">highest paid<\/a> in the country when accounting for cost of living. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The bulk of ONA members are registered nurses, but the union has made inroads with other groups too. For example, ONA also represents allied health workers at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City and Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">ONA says the top priorities of its new unit include \u201cappropriate staffing levels,\u201d \u201cfair pay and benefits to recruit and retain workers,\u201d and \u201cdignity and voice on the job so health professionals\u2019 expertise is respected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The vote had been planned for few weeks. The Providence unit petitioned Dec. 10 for an election, according to the National Labor Relations Board. On Dec. 17, the agency set the election date for Jan. 7, stating the vote would occur throughout the day in a room at the medical center. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It\u2019s been a busy period for nurses association. In coming days, the union is set to hold internal leadership elections. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Willamette Week\u2019s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Support WW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large group of Providence Portland Medical Center workers have voted to join the Oregon Nurses Association, bolstering&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-398208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}