EVERETT — More than 1,300 nurses are set to walk out and picket Providence Regional Medical Center Everett starting Nov. 14.
Union nurses announced Monday they will strike for five days to protest Providence’s “unfair labor practices” and refusal to consider a contract that enforces staffing standards at the hospital.
“We have to take a stand for our patients,” nurse Juan Stout said Monday.
On Oct. 19, nurses voted to authorize a strike. After the last bargaining session Friday, they gave the hospital a 10-day strike notice.
“If we don’t do something right now, people will continue to suffer,” Stout said.
Providence is “extremely disappointed” in the nurses’ decision to strike, spokesperson Erika Hermanson said Friday.
“Strikes do not settle contracts,” she wrote in an email. “In fact, strikes delay contracts.”
Providence and the nurses’ union have been in contract talks for more than six months. The two sides have not agreed on whether the new contract should include staffing level enforcement, specifically on paying nurses more during understaffed shifts.
Nurses have asked the hospital to improve staffing after losing over 600 nurses since 2019. Providence has hired some nurses back and improved retention, but units are still short about 400 nurses compared to “ideal” levels, Chief Nursing Officer Michelle Lundstrom has said.
Language about staffing in the contract would mean bigger paychecks for nurses, as most units are understaffed, Lundstrom said last month. It would also limit Providence’s ability to explore a new staffing model that allows for fewer nurses, she said.
Providence leadership argue they have bargained “in good faith,” offering nurses 21.5% raises as well as bonuses to make pay competitive with other hospitals in the region. The hospital has been preparing for a strike “for some time” and has contracted with nurses from a staffing agency to care for patients if nurses walk out, Hermanson said.
“The threat of a strike does not change our commitment to safe, quality patient care,” she said.
Carol Jensen, an Everett pastor and chair of Faith Action Network’s governing board, said nurses help carry out the nonprofit hospital’s “faith-based values” to care for the sick and injured.
“It’s imperative the wider community supports these nurses as they seek more accountability from their employer,” she said Monday.
Nurses plan to picket outside Providence Everett’s campuses on 1700 13th St. and 916 Pacific Ave. Labor and delivery nurse Kristen Crowder said the union will come back to the bargaining table at any time, if Providence is “ready and willing to address staffing issues.”
Sydney Jackson: 425-339-3430; sydney.jackson@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @_sydneyajackson.
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