PORTLAND, Ore. — Some 5,000 hospital health care workers walked off the job Friday as they picketed all eight Providence hospitals in Oregon, in what the state health workers union described as the largest health care strike in Oregon history — and the first to involve doctors.
Most of those participating in the open-ended strike are nurses. But in a rare move, dozens of doctors at a Portland hospital and at six women's health clinics are also partaking, making it the state's first physicians strike, according to the Oregon Nurses Association union.
The strike came after more than a year of negotiations failed to produce an agreement over staffing levels, pay and benefits.
The union has described ''chronic understaffing'' as detrimental to patient care, and has called for its members to have reduced caseloads, increased wages and improved benefits. Providence says it has made offers for pay raises and been ''fully committed'' to reaching an agreement.
Providence said it expected up to 70 doctors to strike at Providence St. Vincent in Portland, including hospitalists, obstetrics hospitalists who provide care for pregnant women and palliative care physicians working with patients with serious illness or injury. It added that surgeons and emergency doctors were not on strike.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Friday urged the two sides to return to the bargaining table.
''Providence wasted 10 days when they could have been at the table making progress towards a comprehensive resolution of their labor dispute," she said in a statement. ''We must take care of the people who take care of Oregonians — all hospital staff deserve a fair contract."
In response, Providence said it spent those days recruiting and preparing 2,000 temporary nurses to care for patients at its eight hospitals.
