(North Portland) More than 100 hospital workers, community members, religious leaders and elected officials walked a picket line today in support of a fair contract for caregivers and support staff at Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

After months of bargaining, Legacy is offering only a 1% cost of living increase to Emanuel workers, even though workers at Legacy Good Samaritan in NW Portland are receiving a 3% increase this year. Emanuel workers are already the lowest-paid in the Legacy system, and many can’t even afford health care for their own families.

“It’s hard to focus on providing quality care to others when we’re worrying about how to afford it for our own families,” said Carlotta Franklin, a Patient Transporter with nine years at Emanuel who cannot afford to keep her two daughters on the employee health plan. “People don’t stay at Emanuel. We’re constantly training new people, which slows us down even further. When we’re that short-staffed, we often don’t get our breaks. We’re working rushed; it’s easy to forget things. We’re cleaning equipment faster than we should. It’s not safe.”

Low wages and poor benefits lead to increased turnover and chronic short-staffing. Currently 63% of workers represented by SEIU at Emanuel have worked there for five years or less.

"It's crazy that we're paid less than other ED Techs in the Legacy System even though we’re a Level 1 trauma center," said Mike Myers, an Emergency Department Tech. "I have trained several new hires in the Emergency Department who then left to go to another hospital because they are paid more. If Legacy cares about keeping qualified staff and providing consistent patient care, they need to treat us all equally."

The contract covering over 400 caregivers and support staff at Legacy Emanuel, who are represented by SEIU Local 49, was scheduled to expire June 30th, but has been extended to July 31st while workers and management attempt federal mediation to reach a fair settlement.