Tentative Agreement Summary
After nearly a year of negotiations and at the end of a more than 18 hour day, our union’s bargaining team came to a tentative agreement with OHSU this morning at 5:15 AM.
Focusing on worker protections, getting all our members to a living wage, and laying the groundwork for future expansions of our rights, this contract is full of hard fought wins.
The language is still being compiled, so more details will be shared in the coming days with town halls and other meetings added to discuss the deal with our members. A ratification vote will be planned as soon as possible and will include a full, annotated version of the agreement to peruse.
Major items include:
Wage increases:
Year 1: The greater of 4% or $1.25 an hour
Year 2: 3.25%
Year 3: 3%
$4,500 ratification bonus for employees with an FTE of .5 or greater
$2,250 ratification bonus for employees with less than .5 FTE
6 month look back for relief and flex employees when determining ratification bonus
$25 minimum wage for Local 328 represented employees by the end of the contract
Second full pay period after ratification: $20
7/1/2026: $21
1/1/2027: $22
7/1/27: $23
1/1/28: $24
Final pay period before contract expires: $25
Move to Step and Grade in 2027, replacing the confusing quartiles with a more transparent and regimented system. This will include small raises and greater earning potential for everyone in the bargaining unit, including those who are currently at longevity rates.
Increase the hardship fund from $200,000 to $250,000.
Time off:
Increase well-being leave from 8 to 24 hours each year with no change in the cap. This time is “use it or lose it,” encouraging our membership to prioritize their health.
Additional 4 hours of paid bereavement leave and expansion of who is considered your family, allowing our members to grieve their loved ones no matter how they came into their lives.
Retirement:
Codified existing retirement benefits in our contract, ensuring OHSU can not reduce our contributions and giving us the ability to negotiate future changes (including the ability to strike over retirement).
Benefits:
Worked with other unions at OHSU to strengthen the Employee Benefits Council.
Adding 100 sites to tier 1 coverage across Oregon, helping our members who are outside of the Portland area receive healthcare in their communities.
Adding a national plan that better covers our members who work remotely all across the country.
Codified benefits for domestic partners and protected access to pregnancy ending and gender affirming care.
Worker rights:
No occurrences for time off when using sick time for the first 56 hours of every year and no occurrences when an illness requires you not to report to work due to OHSU’s sick provider policy, even if you don’t qualify for state or federal protected leave. This will protect both our members and our patients.
Expanded steward program and other union infrastructure so our members have access to help when they need it.
Enhanced layoff rights based on the lessons learned from the 2024 layoffs.
Protected hybrid and remote worker rights, creating a standardized framework and expectations around any request to change status or return to the office, including access to the preferred hiring list and layoff rights. Previously this was fought for on a case by case basis and with limited control of the outcome.
Protections for those on administrative leave and tracking to watch for patterns that may indicate management’s abuse of this system. Previously there was no tracking and little oversight.
Enhanced and standardized grievance language.
Appendix A:
Overtime and excessive call protections for salary pharmacists and ITG workers with greater protection for access to breaks and lunches.
Seniority, vacation, and sick time accruals for extra shifts up to 1.0 FTE. ANI eligibility, more time to pick up ANI shifts before mandatory overtime can be assigned.
Additional protections we will summarize and share in full once the language is compiled.
This is an attempt to quickly summarize a bargaining campaign that opened more than 250 contract articles, so there are dozens of items that aren’t included. The final review document will likely be around 300 pages long.
No contract is perfect and no bargaining team accomplishes everything they set out to do, but our bargaining team believes this is the best contract that they could negotiate with OHSU in the current environment. When bargaining began, we were planning for a Legacy merger that never happened. Over the course of the campaign we’ve seen OHSU gain a new president and lose their chief financial officer.
Our team has had to balance our knowledge of how often our employer has cried wolf with the obvious political realities of the time we find ourselves in. Research funding is being illegally terminated, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are in jeopardy, and workers rights are under attack.
With all of these obstacles on our road to a fair contract, our team is proud of what we’ve won for our members.
Our $25 minimum wage will set a new standard for the city of Portland and the broader labor movement. Other unions will build on our wins in the same way our contract builds on the work of those who came before us.
There is a common saying in the labor movement that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Despite all the difficulties we face in these times, we are doing our part to improve not the just the lives of our members, but of our communities.
Watch for more details and upcoming events on our website and in your inbox. We will continue to focus on town halls, membership meetings, and in-person tabling events that give our members direct access to leadership and allow us to gather together and feel our collective power.
None of these wins would be possible without the strength and solidarity of our membership. We are stronger together.