Nearly 2,300 nurses Legacy Good Samaritan, Legacy Emanuel and Randall Children’s hospitals have overwhelmingly voted to unionize.

The move comes as Oregon Health & Science University pushes to finalize its high-profile acquisition of Legacy Health.

According to the Oregon Nurses Association, the union now represents 599 nurses at Randall Children’s Hospital, 1,095 nurses at Emanuel and 596 nurses at Good Samaritan. The union said the organization push began in fall 2021.

In a statement, Legacy Health officials said they respect their employees’ rights to choose whether to be represented by a union.

“We are committed to establishing a productive dialogue with the union representatives that will be working with Legacy on behalf of our employees,” the Portland-based health system said.

The nurses union already represents nurses and staff at several other Legacy facilities, including Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, Silverton Medical Center and Legacy’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health. Nurses at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center and Legacy clinic nurses are non-union.

Legacy nurses have said that the organizing efforts follow years of frustration over chronic understaffing, safety concerns and limited input in management decisions — issues they say are compounded by OHSU’s proposal to merge with Legacy.

“This victory is about nurses standing together for the future of our profession, our patients, and our hospitals,” Sarah Zavala, a nurse at Legacy Emanuel said in a statement. “We’re ready to build a strong contract that protects and empowers nurses so we can continue to provide the best care possible.”

Legacy is a nonprofit, six-hospital health system that employs about 14,000 workers.