Oregon nurses want more pay and better workplaces

(JUNE 30, 2023) Nurses in Oregon are not happy. They want more money. They want less stress at work. 

3,500 nurses work at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and Hillsboro. Their contracts end soon. They have been talking with hospital leaders since December. However there is no agreement yet. Nurses will have an "informational picket" soon. They will walk outside of the hospital with signs. They want to tell people about the problems. They want hospital leaders to help them.

Another hospital is Providence. Nurses there had a strike recently. (That means they stopped working as a protest.) Many nurses from different places stopped working for five days. The hospital gave the nurses bad news. If they went on strike, then they might not get good job offers later. This made the nurses mad. They said the hospital broke the law when it hired temporary nurses during the strike. Hospital leaders said they might have to close the hospital if they can't hire temporary workers.

The nurses and hospitals are talking during a difficult time because of the pandemic. Nurses had to take care of sick people while others stayed safe at home. Families had a hard time visiting their loved ones in the hospital. Some nurses quit because they were scared and stressed. They say more money won't fix everything. The amount of work and how they are treated at work need to change, too.