(Seattle) An estimated 300 health care workers and supporters will march through downtown Seattle Monday afternoon, demanding “actions, not words” from Providence Health & Services, the largest health system in the Northwest.

The crowd will march down James St. from 8th to 2nd, and hold a rally at Smith Tower, home to Providence Health & Service’s system-wide headquarters. Washington, Oregon and California caregivers will call on the system to live up to its mission and to respect workers’ right to organize as a union.  

“I want Providence to treat workers with fairness and respect. We want to help make our hospitals work better for patients, caregivers and the community,” explained Sharon P. Williams, a LPN at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

Following divisive anti-union campaigns at Providence hospitals in Washington and California, Providence employees in Oregon are seeking a fair election process in order to decide for themselves, free from management intimidation, whether to form a union with Service Employees International Union.

More than 150 of those marching for fairness arrived in Seattle on three “Fairness Buses” from Oregon. “I’m traveling to Seattle on the Fairness Bus because it’s time for Providence to put actions behind their claims to support workers’ right to form a union,” said Maeve Carroll, an Emergency Room registrar at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland.

The events are timed to coincide with the first day of “Mission Week,” when Providence celebrates its “core values” of respect, justice, compassion, stewardship and excellence.

“Providence claims to honor workers’ right to form a union, but in practice they actively hinder workers in their efforts to organize,” said Father Loren Kerkof, OFN, a Franciscan priest traveling on the fairness buses to Seattle.