Several dozen providers who work for PeaceHealth in Whatcom County took a step toward unionizing on Friday, July 14.
About 85 physician assistants, nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives filed to organize under the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, according to a UAPD news release.
The caregivers who would be represented by UAPD, referred to as advanced practice clinicians or APCs, have been concerned for years about increased pressure from management to see more patients, in order to boost the health care system’s revenue.
“PeaceHealth is poorly managed, so they are pressuring front-line medical providers to spend less time with their patients,” UAPD President Stuart Bussey said in the release. “That is assembly-line care, and it’s not good for patients or the community.”
In response to the union’s announcement, Bev Mayhew, a senior director of marketing and communications for PeaceHealth, offered the following statement:
“PeaceHealth is committed to providing a fair and just workplace for all of our caregivers, and endeavors to offer wages, benefits and working conditions consistent with standards across the region and industry.”
The move comes at a time of financial stress for the county’s largest health provider. PeaceHealth terminated comprehensive outpatient palliative care, closed some of its clinics and laid off providers over the past several months, in cost-cutting moves.
APCs will vote within the next 45 days on whether to form a bargaining unit. In the meantime, union and PeaceHealth officials will try to come to terms on who is qualified to join the union, according to an APC who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation.
“There is a lot of support (for unionization) among multiple departments,” the APC said.
In interviews this spring, several APCs told Cascadia Daily News that PeaceHealth is short-staffed and turnover is high, due to burnout and pay rates that aren’t keeping up with the area’s rising cost of living.
Advanced practice clinicians perform many of the same functions as medical doctors at a fraction of the pay. In some cases, they make only a few thousand dollars more a year than nurses, caregivers said.
