Hood River Nurses on Strike
Donation protected
Since January 10th, 2025 Providence Hood River nurses (along with nurses from 7 other Providence hospitals in Oregon) have been on strike in order to stand up for our patients and the community.
Here is what we are fighting for:
1. Improved staffing to better care for our patients. Providence wants to exclude nurses from determining safe patient care loads. Instead of listening to nurses to determine the level of care that a patient needs, Providence wants to disregard our input. When we are understaffed, patients suffer and nurses burnout which doesn’t help anyone’s health.
2. Fair market wages that bring Hood River nurses closer to the wages paid to Portland area nurses that work for other hospitals such as OHSU, Legacy and Kaiser. Currently Hood River nurses earn up to 20% less than nurses that work in those systems. Due to this, Hood River loses experienced nurses that can make more money elsewhere. Living in the Gorge is expensive. Nurses aren’t getting rich. We’re just trying to provide for our families and give high quality care to our patients.
3. Improved health care benefits for ourselves and our families are key. Providence no longer provides us with Providence health insurance! Instead, Providence switched our coverage to Aetna which has resulted in long time providers now being out of network, increases in out of pocket costs, and medications, including chemotherapy, being denied for coverage.
4. Retroactive pay is another key issue. Nurses are asking that Providence provide back pay for hours of labor provided since our contract expired in March 2024. This has historically been the practice at Providence Hood River and is common in labor negotiations. We have been bargaining in good faith with Providence for over a year, many months before the expiration of this contract, in the hopes that a fair contract could be negotiated before the expiration of the previous one. By dragging out negotiations and not honoring retroactive pay, Providence is effectively stealing money from its employees.
All of these issues impact the level of care that we can provide for our community which is why we are nurses! Standing up to corporate healthcare is HARD! The nurses of Providence Hood River have used our unified voice to say “No, what you’re offering is not good enough. We and our community deserve better!”
Please help us to continue this fight by supporting this fundraising effort. Each dollar helps us hold the strike line.
Funds will be distributed locally on an as needed basis to help our coworkers provide for their basic needs. The community has been generous in their support by delivering baked goods, soups, and hand warmers, standing on the line with us, as well as boisterous HONKING! We love you Hood River. We feel your support.
In solidarity,
The Strike Nurses of Hood River
Thank you for supporting Providence Hood River nurses on strike. All donations will stay in Hood River.
Organizer
Carrie Kennedy
Organizer
Hood River, OR