Samaritan clinicians vote overwhelmingly to unionize, bargain over care and working conditions

By LYNNE TERRY/Lincoln Chronicle 

Primary care providers at a two dozen Samaritan Health Services clinics in Lincoln, Benton and Linn counties are joining a union, with a majority supporting the effort.

In a vote that ended last week, 82 of the nearly 120 providers eligible to vote cast ballots in favor of joining Northwest Medicine United, according to a notice on the National Labor Relations Board website. A total of 13 opposed. Three ballots were challenged, but that won’t affect the overall outcome, the federal agency said.

The vote means that primary care doctors, physician associates and nurse practitioners at 24 Samaritan clinics across the three counties will form a bargaining unit and work on proposals for a contract. This is the first time that these providers at Samaritan have voted to unionize.

A Samaritan leader recognized the results in a statement to the Lincoln Chronicle on Wednesday, striking a conciliatory tone about the process moving forward.

“We respect their decision and will proceed with the collective bargaining process once the results are certified and a bargaining request is received,” Scott Russell, Samaritan’s vice president of human resources, said in an email to the Lincoln Chronicle. “Our focus remains on caring for our patients and maintaining a respectful and collaborative working environment.”

The vote comes amid a big change at Samaritan. Earlier this month, Oregon officials gave final approval for the merger of Samaritan and Multicare Health, a Tacoma, Wash.-based healthcare system with 13 hospitals in Washington state. The two will begin integrating Nov. 1, according to The Lund Report.

Northwest Medicine United, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, already represents pediatric physicians at MultiCare’s Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma. This is the first time it will represent doctors, physician associates and nurse practitioners at Samaritan but it’s not the first union at the company. This spring, the service and maintenance workers at Samaritan’s Lebanon hospital joined the Service Employees International Union Local 49. SEIU also represents most of the technical, service and maintenance workers at Samaritan’s other facilities, while nurses at its hospitals in Newport, Albany, Corvallis, and Lebanon belong to the Oregon Nurses Association.

In a news release, Northwest Medicine United said the providers voted to unionize to have a say in decisions affecting patient care and their own working conditions.

“I am eager to start bargaining so that we can advocate for the time, staffing and resources we need to provide the care this community deserves,” Hannah Balduff, a Samaritan physician associate, said in the release.

Northwest Medicine United also represents providers at Providence, Legacy Health and PeaceHealth and now has nearly 1,000 members in Oregon and Washington.

• Lynne Terry is a longtime reporter and editor who’s worked for NPR in Paris along with The Oregonian/OregonLive, The Lund Report, Oregon Capital Chronicle and the Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected].