The Oregon Nurses Association and St. Charles Bend met in a mediation session Thursday in an effort to reach a contract agreement, less than three weeks after nurses picketed on sidewalks outside the hospital’s entrance.

That meeting came one day after another group of hospital workers decided to take another vote to settle the question of whether they will join the Service Employees International Union Local 49.

Workers initially voted in early 2011 by a slim margin to join the SEIU but negotiations have not yet yielded a contract since talks started last year.

The labor disputes affect nearly 1,300 employees.

Negotiations for the nurses’ labor contract started in May. The ONA, which represents about 670 nurses, was in mediation late Thursday and it was uncertain if the latest session would lead to a contract.

“We’re bargaining in good faith,” Alison Hamway, a labor relations representative for the ONA.

Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Goodman echoed that sentiment.

On Sept. 10, nurses participated in an informational picket outside the hospital, raising concerns about St. Charles management’s effort to reshape the role of charge nurses, who handle administrative and operational tasks and are available to help other nurses.

The union maintains the hospital would make those nurses carry a patient load.

But the hospital has previously said that each unit would get a charge nurse providing more clinical support and mentoring for other nurses. A clinical supervisor would handle the administrative tasks.

The union also has said it is concerned with the hospital’s attempt to eliminate critical-care float nurses, who move throughout the hospital providing emergency care as needed.

The hospital and nurses last reached an agreement in 2010. That contract expired on June 30, but with no new agreement in place, nurses work under its terms.

For the SEIU-represented employees, getting a contract is a first-time experience and negotiations for the first contract are still under way.

The union represents 600 employees at the hospital whose jobs include certified nurse assistants, food service workers, technicians and maintenance staff.

The union’s backers say a second vote about organizing with the SEIU is needed.

After the first election, a group of employees filed a petition in February seeking another vote in an effort to decertify the union.

The National Labor Relations Board delayed that election in March after the union filed complaints claiming the hospital’s management used illegal tactics to intimidate employees.

The SEIU leaders announced this week that they want an election, which is allowed under federal rules. The NLRB will set the date.

Undecided issues in the negotiations include wages, outsourcing and health insurance costs, said Joanne Kennedy, a pharmacy technician and member of the bargaining team.

For example, there is concern about departing staffers being replaced with temporary workers, she said.

“That’s unfair to the community’s families,” she said. “We would like all our positions to be benefited positions and to have people be making a fair wage.”

Zack Roberts, a bargaining team member and dietary aide, said having the election will settle the lingering question of whether the union will exist, aiding the progress of negotiations.

“It lets us vote yes again once and for all,” he said.

He’s hopeful for a vote in October, but uncertain of the date.

The NLRB couldn’t be reached for comment.

The union lifted pending complaints to allow the election to move forward, Roberts said.

“Ultimately, having a union is about respect,” he said. “It’s not just about the health care benefits or a wage scale. It’s about having an equal playing field at work where people have a voice with their managers, where people aren’t working in fear.”

In a statement, the hospital said its workers have the right to choose if they want representation in the privacy of a voting booth.

Some of the labor charges have been dismissed or withdrawn, and the hospital settled others to avoid further delaying the election and a long, expensive legal fight, the hospital said in a statement.

St. Charles attorneys are in contact with the NLRB and no date is set yet.

“We hope that a fair, secret-ballot election will take place to give our caregivers the choice on union representation, which they requested last winter,” said Kirk Schueler, chief administrative officer for St. Charles, in a prepared statement. “In the meantime, we are continuing to negotiate in good faith with the SEIU, and we have two dates set in October to continue negotiations.”