Session 13: OHSU-ONA bargaining update

Labor Relations
OHSU ONA collective bargaining
OHSU ONA collective bargaining
OHSU ONA collective bargaining

Members of the Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon Nurses Association bargaining teams on Wednesday, May 3, met for in-person negotiations at ONA, exchanged several counterproposals, discussed the Transition to Practice Program with guest speakers from OHSU, and had a great conversation about interests in these negotiations. The OHSU team very much appreciates the ONA team’s candor and willingness to engage in this conversation.

Proposals

This week the ONA team shared three counterproposals:

OHSU provided two counterproposals regarding three articles for ONA’s consideration.

To discuss the program generally and to answer questions from the ONA team, Transition to Practice Program experts Alycia Rivera-Tutsch and Sara Bergeron joined the teams virtually in the afternoon session. 

OHSU raised the question of when to request a state-assigned mediator to assist with these negotiations. Mediation is a common part of the process in negotiations, both at OHSU and other employers. In previous contract cycles agreements were reached through mediation. In mediation, the parties work with the mediator to share interests, perspectives and positions and pose questions to determine how to move forward on remaining issues. The mediator does not take a position or make decisions on issues, but acts as a facilitator to keep the process moving forward. Although OHSU does not believe teams are ready for a mediator in these negotiations, given the difficulty of scheduling mediation, the OHSU team communicated interest in reaching out soon to start that process.

Tentative Agreement 

The parties did not reach tentative agreements this session. 

Going forward 

Negotiations will resume May 10, 2023, in a virtual session. ONA communicated that it will have guest speakers to discuss staffing issues, while OHSU will try to have a response to ONA’s Remote Work proposal, as well as others.  


OHSU Communications
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