Late Wednesday night, the Massachusetts Nurses Association announced it has reached a tentative agreement with Mass General Brigham, the parent organization of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to avoid a planned strike set to begin at 7 a.m. Thursday.
The union’s bargaining committee will recommend that Brigham nurses vote to ratify the agreement, according to a statement from the MNA.
“I’m incredibly proud of the Brigham nurses who stood strong to protect the world-class patient care we provide,” said Kelly Morgan, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the BWH MNA Bargaining Committee. “We secured this agreement with the help of countless community members, patients, unions and elected officials who supported us for many months. By standing together, we protected patients and the future of union nursing care at the Brigham.”
Below is the story from Wednesday afternoon on the status of negotiations.
If a last-minute bargaining session on midday Wednesday fails to result in an agreement, 4,000 union nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston will walk off the job tomorrow morning in what the nurse union says will be the largest nurse strike in the state’s history.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association said they are “pushing for [Mass General Brigham, the hospital’s parent organization] to continue negotiating to meet the needs of the nurses and patients with a fair contract,” prior to Thursday’s 7 a.m. deadline.
The two sides are trying to come to terms on a two-year contract, but disagree on compensation and benefits, including wages and health insurance.
Kelly Morgan, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital labor and delivery nurse and chair of the MNA said there was progress made during a bargaining session on Monday.
“We negotiated from 9 a.m. until just after midnight without reaching a resolution, yet we are ready to resume negotiations any time before Nov. 12 to reach an agreement to avert the strike,” Morgan said.
“MGB is aware of what they need to do to reach an agreement.,” said Morgan. “We hope MGB will return to the table to negotiate in good faith and meet the needs of nurses and patients. As always, we are united for safe patient care and a fair contract.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are closely monitoring the situation and issued a joint statement Tuesday, saying they attended the Monday bargaining session to “urge both sides to stay at the table and continue working toward an agreement.”
“They need to continue to push forward toward a resolution that makes sure our nurses receive a fair contract and avoids a strike for the sake of the patients and families who depend on them,” Healey and Wu said in a statement.
MGB contends that Brigham nurses are among the highest-compensated nurses locally, regionally and nationally. The organization said the contract they offered preserves annual raises of 5% for nurses progressing through the wage scale, and adds a new 2.5% raise in each year of the proposed two-year contract for nurses already at the top step of all scales.
Brigham nurses received a 3% across-the-board base pay increase in October 2025.
MGB also said the benefits it offers add approximately 30% in additional compensation value, including health, retirement, and paid time off.
The healthcare system said they’ve so far participated in 27 bargaining sessions over the past 11 months with the MNA, and that the two sides agree on many issues. The last bargaining session ended on Nov. 9 after a 15-hour session.
MGB said it remains committed to reaching “a fair and responsible agreement that recognizes the nurse’s essential contributions, maintains market-leading compensation and competitive benefits and supports Mass General Brigham’s long-term ability to care for the patients and communities who rely on us.”
According to MGB, the average tenure of a Brigham nurse is 11.7 years, and full-time Brigham nurses start at $86,700 a year, with nurses at the top of the wage scale earning at least $220,000 in based pay, not including overtime. MGB said that 11 Brigham and Women’s nurses in the MNA bargaining unit earned more than $300,000 in 2025, and “hundreds more” earned more than $200,000.
How the hospital is preparing for the strike
Dr. Paul Biddinger, MGB’s chief preparedness and continuity officer, said the hospital will use the same preparatory process they used during the MNA nurses work stoppage in July.
“The Brigham and Women’s Hospital is fully staffed, and fully open to care for our patients. We are utilizing real-time safety monitoring and clear escalation pathways for any issues that can arise both in planning and during a potential strike,” he said in a prepared video statement.
He said the state Department of Health will be on site every day to ensure that the hospital delivers the same standard of care.
DPH told GBH News that it has been conducting meetings with the hospital to discuss safety measures, staffing and logistics should a strike take place.
There is no set end date for the planned strike. Nurses in the bargaining unit can’t work during the strike, and can only return to work after both sides agree on a plan.
Dr. Karen Fiumara, vice president of patient safety at MGB, said “our commitment to patient safety during this work stoppage will be grounded in the exact same rigorous systems that we rely on every day when we’re providing care across our organization.”
The hospital said it remains willing to negotiate and is prepared to backfill nurses jobs with agency nurses, which account for 1.3% of Brigham’s typical nursing workforce.
