WSNA’s unfair labor practice charge against PeaceHealth will get a hearing
“It’s important to WSNA that workers aren’t discouraged from exercising their protected rights because of unlawful threats or intimidation.”
March 5, 2025 • 1 minute, 31 seconds to read
March 5 — PeaceHealth’s threat to cancel employees’ health insurance if they go on strike will now get a hearing for an unfair labor practice.
On Tuesday, Region 19 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against PeaceHealth over these threats.
PeaceHealth is a Vancouver, Wash.-based health system that owns and operates 10 hospital and numerous clinics in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.
The Region 19 complaint came after its investigators found merit to an unfair labor practice charge filed by the Washington State Nurses Association in late 2023. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2025.
WSNA filed the unfair labor practice in October 2023 after PeaceHealth’s statements to employees and the media during a strike at PeaceHealth Southwest in Vancouver and PeaceHealth St. John in Longview.
The strike was organized by the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professions, which represents more than 1,700 techs, janitorial employees, and others at both facilities.
During the strike, PeaceHealth threatened to pull health benefits from striking employees, citing the move in statements to the press as its “standard practice that applies to any caregiver (union-represented or not.)”
“This was a blanket statement that covered all employees, including WSNA-represented nurses, their coworkers in other unions, and unrepresented workers alike,” said Kelly Skahan, labor counsel at WSNA. “We couldn’t let this threat go unchallenged.”
WSNA represents registered nurses at both PeaceHealth Southwest and PeaceHealth St. John, as well as PeaceHealth United General in Sedro-Woolley, PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor, and PeaceHealth St. Joseph in Bellingham.
In its filing, WSNA said that PeaceHealth had violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employers from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in their exercise of protected rights.
WSNA argued that the threat to revoke health insurance from any striking worker could reasonably chill protected activity by giving workers the impression they will lose their health benefits if they exercise their protected rights.
“Hearing an employer threaten to cancel striking workers’ health benefits could obviously make other workers hesitate to strike in the future, even when they have every right to do so,” Skahan said. “It’s important to WSNA that workers aren’t discouraged from exercising their protected rights because of unlawful threats or intimidation.”
The strike organized by the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professions started Oct. 23, 2023, and ended Oct. 27, 2023. Member’s health insurance was not canceled. A tentative agreement was reached on Nov. 28, 2023.