More than 4,400 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are planning to head to the picket line on Wednesday in what could become the largest nurse strike in state history.
Nurses at the state’s second-largest hospital are planning a one-day strike starting at 7 a.m. on July 8, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association. But the union added that hospital management plans to keep striking nurses off the job for several additional days.
More than 99% of members voted to authorize the strike in June following seven months of negotiations with hospital management, said Michael Shuley, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurse.
“That is clearly sending a message to the hospital just how vexed the nurses are … that we’re just not going to be put in the positions that we are without being protected, without being paid well and without advocating for ourselves and for our patients,” Shuley said.
According to Shuley, main sticking points throughout the negotiations have been wages, healthcare contributions and more investment in permanent staff instead of temporary travel nurses.
The union is seeking a 3% pay increase during the first year of the 18-month contract and a 4% increase in the second year.
The hospital hasn’t offered any across-the-board pay raises, arguing that the 5% step increase nurses receive on their annual work anniversary is enough to keep nurses among the highest paid in the state.
However, Shuley argues that when you factor in the increase in that cost of healthcare premiums, the wage increase is “actually a pay cut.”
“I couldn’t believe that was said with a straight face … that they feel that we’re among the highest-paid nurses in the state and that we’re very competitive, which isn’t true,” he said. “There are places that have gotten significant cost of living wage increases that we’re asking for.”
Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital received an across-the-board pay increase of 3% in October, said Mass General Brigham, the parent organization of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in a statement.
Proposed health care cost increase
The hospital is also asking nurses who are enrolled in the Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan — roughly half of the union’s members — to pay 2.5 percentage points more of their monthly premium. Nurses currently contribute up to 20% of their premiums, depending on their hours worked and coverage type.
Kerry Noonan, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurse, said the union has offered to meet hospital negotiators in the middle about health insurance costs.
“We’ve suggested that perhaps we could change our pharmaceutical plans and buy our pharmaceuticals from the hospital, who already gets pharmaceuticals at a discount because they buy in bulk,” he said. “They don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to negotiate. They just want to break the union.”
Noonan said while some of the travel nurses are really good at their jobs, the hospital system isn’t using them to fill in the gaps.
“They’re relying on these tools to fill holes for long-term goals and have people cost less,” he said. “If you’re a traveler [travel nurse]…you’re not going to have the same benefits that I have in the contract, and it’s cheaper for the hospital, and sometimes, the care they provide is inconsistent with what we provide.”
The union has authorized nurses to strike for one day, but Shuley said the hospital will lock out nurses for an additional four days, extending the work stoppage to July 13.
A Mass General Brigham spokesperson confirmed the nurses may be off the job for longer than one day, but did not say how long the hospital plans to lock them out. “Although the union may notice a one-day strike, the operational impact can extend beyond a single day because Mass General Brigham must make extensive emergency preparedness arrangements to ensure continuity of patient care,” the spokesperson told GBH News.
“We take seriously the union’s decision to strike and are fully prepared to continue providing high-quality patient care throughout a work stoppage,” said Mass General Brigham in a statement. “We respect and value our nurses and remain committed to reaching a fair agreement.”
The hospital system said it will bring in temporary, qualified nurses and physicians to maintain care during the strikes. A hospital system spokesperson said the hospital will not replace all 4,000 nurses, but that “the nurses will work the five days each so the headcount number is lower.”
While the hospital maintains that it will keep its current level of staffing, Shuley argues it will impact patient care.
“They’re going to be replacing basically one nurse for every four nurses, so that really is going to impact the care because I know our hospital is maxed out to capacity,” he said. “We’re at a peak time between the World Cup, the Tall Ships, the massive heat wave where you’ve had multiple issues regarding patients coming into the emergency room … so I can see it really becoming a very unsafe environment for patients and their families.”
Home care clinicians also plan to strike
Separate from the nurse strike, roughly 450 Mass General Brigham home care clinicians are also expected to go on a seven-day strike starting Wednesday.
Clinicians are seeking reasonable caseload limits, clear productivity standards and competitive wages that reflect “the complexity and importance of home care services,” said the Massachusetts Nurses Association in a statement.
The union adds that current working conditions for clinicians contribute to burnout, high turnover and make it difficult to recruit and retain caregivers while demand grows.
In a statement, Mass General Brigham said they have proposed “changes on overtime, enhanced on-call territory pay and wages, including new or improved pay scales.”
“We believe our offer recognizes the essential contributions of our Home Care clinicians as valued members of our care teams, offering highly competitive pay that maintains their position at the top of the local market,” the hospital system said in a statement. “We are focused on reaching an agreement that supports patient care needs and supports the long-term sustainability of our system.”
Elsewhere in the state, nurses at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester also voted to authorize a two-week strike last week, but no date has been set.
