On 23 October, more than 1,300 employees of PeaceHealth Southwest, a hospital system on the border of Oregon and Washington State in the US, walked off the job. They'd been asking their employer to address concerns about under-staffing, and offer pay rises that keep pace with a cost of living
"Even before Covid, the workforce was having a hard time," she says."There were shortages that meant workload was high for everyone.
It's a"wild" swing, adds Purser, from the way those same workers were celebrated in the throes of the pandemic."Three years ago, they were being lauded as heroes – literally heroes," she says,"and now they're just left to the aftermath of all this.
In fact, says Purser, in negotiations between healthcare workers and hospital executives, concern over patient care has arguably become a more pressing matter even than pay."They know that patients aren't getting the care they need and deserve. Like they're actually bargaining on behalf of patient care," she says."They're saying, hey, if we're chronically understaffed and overworked, this employer is incapable of doing what it says it's supposed to be doing.
Lucas says the deal should be a model for other healthcare organisations. While it's not a panacea for the system's problems, the mood among employees is proud and hopeful."These problems were not born overnight, and they won't be solved overnight," she says."But at least now people feel like they've been heard."