MNA nurses at Brigham and Women's and Faulkner hospitals are voting to authorize one-day strikes because MGB refuses to provide fair contracts that will address understaffing and safety problems

BOSTON, July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In what may precipitate an historic labor action by Boston-based MNA nurses, the combined 4,500 nurses of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), will vote on July 24 and 25 to authorize one-day strikes as nurses negotiate contracts aimed at addressing unsafe staffing and patient care concerns.

• Brigham nurses will vote July 24 to authorize a one-day strike. Mass General Brigham has failed to address unsustainable and unsafe working conditions imperiling patient care and harming nurses, including during the last negotiation session on July 16. Click here for more details.
  
  
• Faulkner nurses will vote July 25 to authorize a one-day strike. MGB refuses to provide Faulkner nurses wage parity with Brigham nurses, thereby failing to address longstanding unsafe staffing and patient safety issues, including during the last negotiation session on July 22. Click here for more details.

If nurses at either or both hospitals authorize a one-day strike, that does not mean a strike will automatically take place. The BWH and Faulkner MNA Bargaining Committees will schedule strikes, if necessary, based on how management proceeds in negotiations following the vote. If a strike is scheduled, the committees must provide at least 10 days' notice.     

"We take a strike at the Brigham extremely seriously," said Kelly Morgan, a Brigham labor and delivery nurse and BWH MNA Chair. "MGB executives have forced the hand of Brigham nurses by taking advantage of our dedication to our patients. We care for extremely sick and injured patients without the right equipment, in crowded hallways, through mold and insect infestations, and under the constant threat of violence. Yet these executives – who pay themselves handsomely – refuse to respect Brigham nurses enough to settle a fair contract."

"MGB executives have long treated Faulkner Hospital like a part of Brigham and Women's Hospital but refuse to compensate us equally and ensure Faulkner has the nurses needed for safe patient care," said Dan Rec, a Faulkner RN and Co-Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee. "We are concerned about the damaging cycle of Faulkner nurses receiving lower pay than the Brigham, making retention and recruitment difficult, and leading to understaffing, danger, and stress."

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association