OHSU Cries Poverty in Bargaining, Cuts Benefits... Still Gives Top Executives $12.5 Million in Bonuses

As many of you may know by now, a few OHSU executives have chosen to give themselves and some of the highest paid people at the University hospital around $12.5 million in bonuses. This decision comes on the tails of a heated bargaining session between OHSU and AURN, wherein OHSU continuously claimed it did not have the budget for their proposed raises. “But we must be responsible with our funds, for the wellbeing of the patients!” they scolded. The nurses had to threaten a strike, and very nearly call one, before OHSU finally gave them a reasonable contract proposal. These same executives now rewarding themselves millions of dollars similarly told the Graduate Student Union (GRU) that a living wage was not in the budget— that a stipend as low as 40k annually was unreasonably high and impossible to fund.

And now that bargaining is over, and our unions cannot legally strike, these wealthy OHSU executives have revealed their hand: there was always money in the budget to pay us fairly, but they would rather line their pockets while their workers fight for crumbs. While those who generate the vast majority of OHSU’s value are left to contend with the ever-present monsters of debt, hunger, and eviction, Danny Jacobs has been working hard to maintain the long-held status quo: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

As if that weren’t enough, on 10/5 OHSU quietly indicated that it planned to cut healthcare benefits for domestic partners of employees, leaving hundreds of adults and children without access to healthcare. Fortunately, after intense pressure from it’s workers, the decision was immediately reversed. However, the executives are now trying to shift the blame for their terrible decisions onto the Employee Benefits Council, making it seem as if our fellow workers tried to take away our benefits. But we know better than to let OHSU leadership blame us, the workers, for their dumb mistakes. The truth is that OHSU forced our EBC representatives to choose between two equally cruel options: either cut domestic partner benefits, or raise healthcare costs for everyone else. All union members of the EBC refused to vote either way, being unwilling to let OHSU force them to cut workers’ benefits.

All of this, and OHSU’s other top earners still have the gall to think they deserve $12.5 Million from our non-profit coffers to reward themselves for all their “hard work.”

If you believe these wealthy OHSU executives should decline these bonuses and use them to instead serve their lower-wage workers— those who actually need the money— please sign this joint statement and petition from all of OHSU’s unions, AURN, the Post-Doctoral Union, AFSCME Local 328, and GRU: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/decline-egregious-bonuses/