BOSTON — About 4,500 nurses and healthcare professionals represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association are planning to strike July 8 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MGB Home Care unless Mass General Brigham reaches new contract agreements with the bargaining units.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association said the planned labor action would be the largest strike of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts history.
The strike notices were issued Friday, June 26, after what the union described as repeated unsuccessful attempts to secure contract proposals addressing patient care, staffing, and workforce concerns.
The planned strike includes more than 4,000 registered nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and approximately 450 clinicians at MGB Home Care.
Brigham nurses are scheduled to begin a one-day strike at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 8, and conclude at 6:59 a.m. on July 9. According to the union, Mass General Brigham has said it will lock nurses out of the hospital for an additional four days after the strike.
“MGB executives are forcing 4,000 Brigham nurses to strike by choosing corporate profits over patient care,” said Kelly Morgan, RN, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital MNA Bargaining Committee. “MGB has spent years disrespecting nurses and ignoring our safety concerns. Executives have refused for months to invest in nurses, instead making proposals that would make it harder to recruit and retain nurses. We are standing up for our patients, our profession, and the future of care at the Brigham.”
Brigham nurses voted June 16 to authorize a one-day strike after more than seven months of bargaining. The union said nurses are seeking contract terms that support recruitment and retention, competitive wage increases, affordable health insurance, and protections for patient care services.
MGB Home Care clinicians, who are negotiating their first union contract after voting to unionize in June 2024, are scheduled to begin a seven-day strike at 8:00 a.m. July 8. That strike is scheduled to conclude July 15.
According to the MNA, the MGB Home Care bargaining unit includes registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers, and dieticians.
“MGB Home Care clinicians provide complex care that allows patients to remain safely in their homes and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations,” said Shannon Viera, RN, chair of the MGB Home Care MNA Bargaining Committee. “We have spent more than a year trying to negotiate a fair first contract. We do not want to strike, but we need enforceable standards and meaningful improvements so clinicians can continue providing the quality care our patients deserve.”
MGB Home Care clinicians voted May 19 to authorize a potential seven-day strike. The MNA said clinicians are seeking reasonable caseload limits, transparent productivity standards and wages that reflect the complexity of home care work.
The MNA said Brigham nurses plan to picket at the main hospital campus at 75 Francis Street in Boston, as well as several other Brigham locations in Boston, Chestnut Hill, Foxborough, and Jamaica Plain. If nurses are locked out after the one-day strike, the union said picketing will continue only at the main hospital.
MGB Home Care clinicians plan to picket at Mass General Home Care offices in Beverly, Braintree, Chelsea, and Newton, as well as at Mass General Brigham’s Assembly Row location in Somerville. The MNA said picketing on days two through seven of the home care strike will be held at MGB headquarters at Assembly Row.
