MCMC Nurses Rally for Safe Staffing, Better Patient Care, Fair Wages
Oregon Nurses Association hosted a rally to support The Dalles Nurses.
Local nurses held a rally on Aug. 19th, at The Dalles Post Office to push for safe staffing, better patient care, fair wages and respect from Mid-Columbia Medical Center administration. The rally comes after several months of Oregon Nurses Association contract negotiations.
Rally flyers said the administration had failed to approve a contract extension. As a result, nurses said that they had been working without a contract since June 30th, 2021.
Read the full rally flyer here.
Deb Conklin, part of the Mid-Columbia Medical Center nurses contract negotiating team spoke LIVE with CCC News about safe staffing, better patient care, and fair wages.
Nurses at MCMC were surveyed last spring about working conditions. According to an April 26, 2021, Oregon Nurses Association Bargaining Update newsletter the survey found that, “A majority of the ONA/MCMC nurses completed the survey and identified the following priorities: wage increases, improved staffing, improved health benefits, respectful work setting, adding more years of service to our hourly pay rates, accrual rates for paid time off (PTO) as well as other issues,” it states. “Many nurses shared that low retention of staff is an issue right now at MCMC. Several departments have high turnover (nurses, lab, physicians, etc.) which results in a loss of our most experienced staff at MCMC. Many nurses identified that this contributes to staffing issues.”
To read more about the staffing shortages and contract negotiations that lead to the rally click here.
To read more MCMC news coverage click here.
Piper Murders, Halley Autumns, Brian Goldfain show their support.
Tia and Derek Larson at the MCMC nurses rally.
Petunia the daschund shows her support for The Dalles nurses.
Petunia the daschund shows her support for The Dalles nurses.
