Two clinics closed amid PeaceHealth strike; no impact to care, officials say
PeaceHealth executives announced there would be no impact to hospital services this week, despite the temporary closure of two local clinics as about 1,000 St. Joseph Medical Center and PeaceHealth Medical Group clinic employees began a lawful, five-day strike Monday morning.
About 900 of those employees include Certified Nursing Assistants, housekeeping workers, phlebotomists, imaging technicians and other essential hospital staff represented by the Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199NW. About 100 additional employees are advanced care providers represented by the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD).
The strike, which began May 12 and is scheduled to end at 7 a.m. Saturday, May 17, does not include the nurses union, which held an informational picket April 29.
“We want to assure the community that we have plans in place to ensure the continued delivery of safe patient care,” a Friday announcement from PeaceHealth said of their services during the strike.
PeaceHealth Northwest Network Senior Director of Marketing and Communication Amy Drury previously told The Herald that the hospital had secured the services of temporary replacement caregivers from a staffing agency, along with existing care partners, to maintain patient care for the duration of the strike, which “is a standard practice in the health care industry.”
However, two of PeaceHealth’s Priority Care Clinics, including the Medical Office Plaza Priority Care and the Sedro-Woolley Priority Care Clinic, will be temporarily closed during the duration of the strike. Both clinics are expected to reopen Monday, May 19.
During the closures, patients seeking care at Medical Office Plaza Priority Care are being directed to the PeaceHealth Cordata Main Clinic.
Patients seeking care at Sedro-Woolley Priority Care Clinic are being told to do one of three things:
▪ Call Triage at 360-856-8810, option 3.
▪ Contact their primary care physician’s office directly.
▪ Go to the Emergency Department.
PeaceHealth also postponed many Nurses Week events last week, citing the need to prepare for this week’s strike.
“With our leadership across all departments focused on ensuring safe, uninterrupted patient care during this week’s work stoppage, we postponed some of our Nurses Week events until later in the year,” Drury told The Herald.
The hospital held two events: a virtual panel conversation and an awards celebration.
“We respect the rights of PeaceHealth’s SEIU and UAPD-represented caregivers to participate in this and other lawful activities,” PeaceHealth’s Friday announcement states. “However, we are deeply disappointed that the unions have chosen to strike. We have proposed a competitive compensation package that ensures our pay rates are at or above market rates. Under our current wage proposal to SEIU, caregivers would receive wage increases ranging from 15% to 36% over the four-year contract. Similarly, our current proposal to our advanced practice clinicians would provide market-based increases of up to 10% in the first year and maintain top of market positioning for that group of providers.”
Bargaining has been ongoing for more than eight months. It is currently paused during the strike.
PeaceHealth employees on strike represented by SEIU have repeatedly criticized PeaceHealth executives for “bad-faith bargaining and refusal to settle a strong contract with investments in wages and staffing that respect our experience as front-line workers.”
Those workers are also asking community members to sign a petition in support of their contract demands.
“PeaceHealth’s proposals at the bargaining table do not reflect an investment in our health care workers so that they can better serve our Whatcom County community,” the petition states.
PeaceHealth employees of the same union went on strike in 2015 after employees voiced similar concerns related to wages and health care benefits.
This strike comes as bargaining between the hospital and more than 1,100 PeaceHealth nurses represented by the Washington State Nurses Association remains stalled. Hundreds of nurses held an information picket outside the hospital in April.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM.
