PORTLAND, Ore. — Providence healthcare workers expressed frustration Sunday over the hospital system’s decision to begin negotiating with smaller facilities first as Oregon’s first healthcare strike to include physicians entered its third day.
Providence announced plans to restart negotiations with federal mediators at its Medford and Newberg locations, drawing criticism from workers at larger facilities like Providence Portland and St. Vincent.
“It feels like gaslighting honestly, and it feels like a very calculated division designed to separate the larger population hospitals from the smaller population hospitals,” said Daniel Taylor, an acute care RN at St. Vincent. “Fixing problems at one hospital versus fixing problems at another hospital doesn’t solve the problem.”…