Nearly 5,000 healthcare workers from Providence Health began a strike Friday morning, picketing all eight Providence hospitals in Oregon, after months of contract negotiations between the health system and the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) union, which is representing the workers.

The largest health care strike in Oregon history began early Friday at Providence across the state, as roughly 5,000 frontline health professionals walked off the job. The strike — which includes mostly nurses and 150 doctors and advanced practitioners in addition to thousands of nurses — spans Providence’s eight hospitals in the state.

Thousands of Providence health care workers are striking this morning in the largest health care strike in Oregon history. Here's why.

Over 5,000 health care workers, including nurses and doctors, began Oregon's largest health care strike at Providence hospitals, demanding better staffing, wages, and benefits after failed negotiations spanning over a year.

Nearly 5,000 doctors and nurses at several Providence hospitals and clinics hit the picket lines Friday in what could be the largest health care worker strike i

Oregon faces its largest healthcare worker strike, with 5,000 doctors and nurses from Providence Health on strike with no set end date.

The strike, which impacts all eight Providence hospitals in the state as well as six women’s clinics, includes nearly 5,000 nurses, and 150 physicians and advanced practitioners.

Nearly 5,000 nurses, physicians and other caregivers from eight Providence hospitals and six Providence clinics began an open-ended strike at 6 a.m. Friday. “This is truly a historic event,” Oregon Nurses Association Executive Director Anne Tan Piazza said at a Thursday new conference.

With concern growing over hospital care as a Friday strike looms at Providence Hospitals, representatives from the Oregon Nurses Association will hold a press conference to update the public on their preparations.

Oregon’s Providence hospitals and nearly 5,000 of its workers have yet to agree on terms to bump wages and address staffing shortages. That means the largest health care strike in the state’s history will begin Friday morning.