Overview
- Thousands of Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses walked back into the hospital at 7 a.m. Monday after a one-day strike on July 8 turned into a four-day lockout because the system honored five-day contracts for about 1,300 replacement nurses.
- Mass General Brigham says patient care continued with daily oversight from state public-health surveyors while the replacements worked, but many nurses warned that unfamiliar temporary staff risked gaps in continuity and unit-specific procedures.
- The Massachusetts Nurses Association and MGB have now spent more than eight months and 20 negotiation sessions without a deal, with the parties especially split over across-the-board wage increases and proposed hikes to employee health insurance contributions.
- About 450 MGB Home Care clinicians concluded a separate seven-day strike this week and planned to return to patients after a Tuesday rally, while continuing to press for their first union contract addressing caseloads, productivity rules and pay.
- The stoppages drew broad public and political attention and put pressure on MGB to resume serious bargaining, with the likely next steps being renewed talks focused on wages, insurance terms and limits on reliance on agency nurses.