LabCorp professionals at Portland-area hospitals vote to unionize

Jashayla Pettigrew
·2 min read

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Eighty-six percent of Portland-area workers with a national medical testing company have voted to unionize.

The Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals announced that 434 LabCorp professionals voted “yes” in a union election held from May 1 to May 3.

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The employees — who work at seven Legacy Health facilities across the Pacific Northwest — have since joined the Oregon affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. The national organization represents about 1.7 million members who are educators, public services employees and healthcare workers.

Its new members hold positions as medical technologists, lab specialists, phlebotomists and more. Although a number of medical professionals at Legacy Health facilities have unionized over the past year, LabCorp only recently took over the labs previously owned by the health system.

Since the acquisition deal was finalized in November, OFNHP said lab professionals have expressed concerns with low wages, understaffing, health insurance costs and “not having a voice.”

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The Oregon organization alleged that LabCorp aims to operate “in a non-union environment, and to ensure that they hired multiple anti-union consultants to try and persuade their lab professionals to not unionize.”

Workers now have the opportunity to negotiate their first union contract.

“I am excited that lab professionals at LabCorp have finally won a union and can now advocate for better wages, benefits, and working conditions,” Medical Laboratory Scientist Meagan Hollis. “When we come together as healthcare professionals, we have the strength to make huge changes that can benefit the future of our entire healthcare system.”

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Lab professionals at the Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center in Tualatin have also recently joined OFNHP, and have started to negotiate their first bargaining agreement. And with a union election that commenced on Monday, PeaceHealth Southwest workers could be next.

KOIN 6 has reached out to LabCorp for comment.

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