Overview
- About 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital voted to authorize an open-ended strike, with the union reporting a 2,986–215, or 93 percent, margin in the vote held Thursday.
- The authorization gives the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s bargaining committee the right to call an indefinite walkout, but the union must give at least 10 days’ legal notice before a strike would begin.
- Nurses say they seek cost-of-living wage increases, affordable health-insurance choice, limits on the heavy use of temporary nurses, and higher pay when floated between units to protect continuity of care.
- Mass General Brigham says it has offered a competitive proposal, argues nurses already rank among the highest paid, and warns the union’s pay demands would be financially unsustainable while saying it has plans to keep patients safe if a strike occurs.
- The vote follows a July one-day strike and a four-day lockout and comes during a wider wave of hospital labor activity in Massachusetts, a context that could raise pressure for longer negotiations or settlements systemwide.