PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Dozens of union members at Legacy Good Samaritan in Portland chose Labor Day to share their frustration of the ongoing back-and-forth with Legacy Health management as they seek a fair contract.
More than 200 hospitalists represented by Northwest Medicine United across the Legacy Health system have been bargaining for 18 months without a contract. Organizers said this Labor Day rally highlighted how short staffing and rising workloads threaten connections between doctors and their patients.
To be clear, this rally with picket signs was not a strike. It was a group of unionized Legacy workers who wanted to share their frustration and the support of their hospital co-workers.
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Dr. Mikeanne Minter, who’s been at Legacy for 25 years, said that in her time as a hospitalist — that is, a doctor who provides care for patients at a hospital — many things have changed, including patient needs and requests from higher-ups.
“I think one of the things that has become more evident than ever before is that the patients we see in the hospital now are extremely complex,” Minter told KOIN 6 News.
That complexity and the endless demands of the job make things more complicated, she said.
“I end up thinking of us as being in a bubble, and we are taking care of patients inside this bubble and outside the bubble,” Minter told KOIN 6 News. “Insurance companies, large medical institutions are just compressing us and applying more and more pressure to try to get us to see more patients, to spend more time working.”
It’s been two months since Legacy had a bargaining session with this union. At this time, no bargaining session is on the calendar, union leaders said.
In a statement, Legacy Health said, in part: “We continue to bargain in good faith with our Northwest Medicine United-represented staff members and respect the right of all Legacy employees to participate in union activities, including informational pickets. We do not expect any disruptions to patient care, and ensuring the wellbeing of our patients and employees will remain central to everything we do.”
