BOSTON — Nurses at one of Boston’s biggest hospitals are set to vote to authorize a strike as they fight for a new contract.
Brigham and Women’s nurses authorized a one-day strike and walked off the job on July 8th.
Those union nurses returned five days later on July 13.
Thursday, nurses will vote on whether to authorize an indefinite strike as they fight for a new contract with Mass General Brigham.
“We will not break. We are going to fight this. And basically, we want them back at the table,” said PACU nurse Jim McCarthy ahead of Thursday’s vote.
McCarthy is the Vice Chair of the Brigham MNA committee.
He believes the vote will be resounding among Brigham nurses and a strike will happen if MGB doesn’t come to the table.
That means those nurses will not be paid and risk the hospital no longer paying the employer portion of health insurance premiums.
“It’s a scary supposition, but it comes to a point where you have to draw a line in the sand and say, enough’s enough; you can’t disrespect us,” said McCarthy.
Mass General Brigham said over the course of 25 sessions, they have bargained in good faith.
In a statement, they added that Brigham nurses are already among the highest-paid nurses locally, statewide, and nationally with compensation in the top 10 percent of the acute care hospital market.
“None of us wants another strike. However, we are fully prepared to continue delivering the safe patient care that our patients expect and deserve should a second strike occur,” said an MGB spokesperson.
MGB said the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s proposal asks for an additional 7% across the board in addition to their annual 5% increase and the 3% across the board they received last October.
In numbers, MGB said the proposal would add about $90 million dollars in annual wage increases and an $11.2 million dollar ratification bonus, bringing the total annual nursing labor costs to nearly $1 billion dollars at the Brigham.
MGB also pointed out that nurse base wages have increased by an average 55% over the past five fiscal years.
They said, in their statement, that the remaining issues are economic and because MNA is unwilling to adjust their proposal, negotiations are at an impasse.
“It’s smoke and mirrors. And they’re saying that it’s economics, we can’t do this. But they said to us in our last session that basically, if you want to talk economics, we’ll talk economics, drop your proposals. If you want to keep your proposals, then drop the economics. So the money is not an issue. This is clearly just they want to break the union,” said McCarthy.
He said the union also focused on workplace and patient safety. One area they’d like to see a change is a limit on the number of travel nurses coming into the hospital.
McCarthy said, “We’re
the most qualified and most specialized nurses in the country. And having
travelers coming in, you know, some are skilled and everything else is up, but it
doesn’t match what a Brigham nurse is."
If a strike is authorized on Thursday, the MNA will have to give the hospital 10 days notice of the strike.
That means it could start as early as October 5.
The union said once they go out they won’t come back without a new contract.
“That vote’s going to be resounding, and then after that, the strike vote will come very swiftly,” said McCarthy.
“Mass General Brigham has a long history of working constructively with unions and has settled two union contracts within the last month. We must continue to balance competitive compensation with access and sustainability for the patients and communities we serve,” said MGB.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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