Overview
- Unionized nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital plan to begin an open-ended strike at 7 a.m. Thursday if no deal is reached, after last-ditch bargaining failed to produce an agreement.
- Negotiators worked through a marathon session that ran about 15 hours earlier this week but left wages, health insurance and caps on travel-nurse deployments unresolved.
- Mass General Brigham says it has confirmed the temporary staff requested and began orienting hundreds of agency nurses this week to maintain care during any work stoppage.
- Patients are advised to keep scheduled appointments unless contacted, expect picket-related traffic and adjusted ambulatory start times, and regulators will monitor hospital safety each day.
- The dispute follows a one-day strike and a subsequent lockout in July, has been mediated for months, and carries wider implications for hospital finances, staffing practices and political pressure from state and city leaders.