Update on mediation: Highlights from OHSU's Sept. 15 proposal

Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon Nurses Association concluded three days of mediation working toward a successor contract. Below are some of the highlights, without takeaways, as of Friday, Sept. 15:

OHSU’s current offer, organized by ONA's stated priorities, includes: 

Wages

• Across the board increases of 15% (year 1) / 5% (year 2) / 5% (year 3) 
• A one-time payment of up to $10,000
• Adopting a 30-step wage scale starting on July 1, 2024 
• Expanded hours and increased rates for night shift differential that honor seniority ($7 - $9 depending on years of experience, beginning July 1, 2024) 
• Increased call pay, charge pay, service lead, preceptor pay, and bilingual bonus 
• New prescheduled shift incentive.
• New PANDA differential
• Expanded supplemental call differential
• Removing FTE requirement for full specialty float pool differential rate

Staffing

• Full meal and rest break coverage (no more buddy breaks)
• Meeting or exceeding all state required staffing ratios, no averaging per shift 
• Requirement that new staffing plans do not reduce current staffing levels
• Creation of staffing plans for all ambulatory care clinics
• Increasing pool of hours for UBNPC work outside of meetings
• Nurse staffing committee (HBNSC) co-chair to have 0.3 of their FTE devoted to committee work in 2023 and 2024

Workplace Safety

• A comprehensive third-party safety assessment that includes the physical environment, unit safety, training needs, self-defense training, and emergency alert systems, and a minimum investment on safety improvements of $10 million. Decisions on how to invest the $10 million will be determined by an employee committee, which will be 50% represented employees.
• New task force on emergency notifications for employees at all OHSU locations
• Increased nurse presence on safety committees
• Expanded training for personal safety and de-escalation, including trauma-informed/crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques
• Requirement that OHSU will use best efforts to screen patients, visitors, and belongings when entering the ED via metal detector and visual identification (i.e., bracelet) of screened individuals
• DPS services scheduled in the ED 24/7
• Prominent posters informing visitors and patients that violence and threats of violence will not be tolerated

Retention and Recruitment

• Wages, staffing, safety improvements above
• Remove requirement for resource nurses to work 1040 hours for a year of service (credit toward next vacation tier) 
• Increased pool of educational hours for resource nurses
• Additional hours for educational leave
• Increased funds for graduate benefit subsidy, and OHSU paying higher percentage of tuition costs for the nurse
• Increased certification bonus
• New remote work article 

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)

• New JEDI grant of .08 hours per nurse that is administered by a new JEDI committee
• This committee receives a pool of 110 paid hours for committee work
• Additional grievance process for trial service period employees who may have been discriminated against
• Earlier access to grievance process for discrimination and harassment complaints 

Moral Injury 

• Enhancements in health and safety: expanded training in de-escalation and personal safety, trauma-informed care, and crisis intervention
• Clear reporting process for workplace safety and injury issues
• Availability of unit safety assessments upon request by individual units
• Enhanced workplace violence response
• Employee support for suicide prevention
• A new communicable disease task force including RN members
• Paid time off following assault
• Paid time off to deal with car and bike theft/damage at OHSU
• Additional paid bereavement leave  

The above offer was current as of Friday Sept. 15. Here is a link to OHSU’s final offer with more details.

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