Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses vote in favor of one-day strike

The 3,300 registered nurses who help staff Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted to authorize a 24 hour strike in the hopes of propelling stalled negotiations for a new contract with the hospital and its parent company, Partners HealthCare, the union announced Monday.

About 2,460 nurses cast ballots Monday night, with the nurses voting 2,345 to 115 in favor of the strike. The MNA called it the largest nurses' strike vote in Massachusetts history.

"Brigham nurses spoke loud and clear today. They are taking a stand for the Brigham Way, for nursing excellence and safe patient care," said Trish Powers, a staff nurse and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association BWH bargaining unit. "There is no justification for the hospital's stance in these negotiations. When a corporation makes billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of millions in profits, there is no reason why it should reduce nurse staffing, impact the quality of care for our patients and reduce nurse benefits."

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Brigham and Women's Hospital said they have received notice that the nurses will strike on June 27. The strike is set to be a one-day event unless agreement on a contract is reached beforehand. If the strike does actually happen, the union said it will be the first one for the city of Boston in 20 years, and the largest in the state's history.

According to MNA, nurses have been negotiating for a new contract since September 2015 in an effort to replace the contract that was scheduled to expire at the end of that month. They said there have been 19 bargaining sessions thus far, but no more are currently planned.

Among the key issues being argued, nurses are demanding what they call safe nursing staffing levels in the thoracic step-down unit which is used to treat lung transplant patients and other serious procedures. They said they also have serious concerns about the implementation of smart phones in the neonatal intensive care unit that have not been resolved, the MNA said.

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They also listed equal benefits for all nurses, time off and wage increases as major bargaining points.

Brigham and Women's Hospital said they believe the strike could stretch to as many as five days, if it happens at all, but they remain hopeful the strike will not take place.

"While we are disappointed that the MNA bargaining committee has provided us notice that they intend to strike on June 27, we sincerely hope that we can reach a fair and reasonable contract and avoid a 5-day strike.  However, should a strike occur, we have developed a detailed operating plan to ensure the delivery of the best care to our patients and their families. Delivering high quality, competent and safe care to our patients and their families remains the top priority of hospital leadership, nursing management and the entire BWH community," said Ron M. Walls, chief operating officer, Brigham and Women's Health Care.

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As part of that operating plan, the hospital said they will bring in 700 temporary nurses from an agency that provides staff during work stoppages. Also, 130 of the regular Brigham and Women's nurses who are not part of the union, as well as other nursing management and staff leadership, will be present.

The hospital said they expect nurses to report back to work at on July 2, following the strike, which they have said they believe could go longer than one day. The MNA said the hospital had actually threatened to lock nurses out for four days following the one-day strike they announced.

Brigham and Women's had not responded to inquiries regarding that allegation at the time this article was published.

Brigham and Women's locations that will be impacted include the main hospital campus, as well as 850 Boylston Street, Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center and Brookside Community Health Center.

Twitter: @BethJSanborn