(BOSTON) –Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General Brigham home care clinicians took to the streets Wednesday morning for a strike set to involve roughly 4,500 workers, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The strike would be the largest nurse and healthcare professional strike in Massachusetts history, according to a Massachusetts Nurses Association press release.
“At both bargaining tables, the nurses and clinicians made significant efforts to compromise and offered to continue negotiating to avoid a strike,” the association wrote in a statement. “MGB refused to improve its proposals and declined opportunities to continue bargaining.”
The nurses’ strike, which was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday, is set to last one day and be followed by a lockout imposed by Mass General Brigham, the association said.
The work stoppage is now expected to last until 7:59 a.m. on July 15, according to the hospital.
Mass General Brigham home care clinicians plan to strike for seven days beginning at 8 a.m. on the same day, according to the union.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital said it will continue to provide high-quality patient care throughout the work stoppage, along with its outpatient centers, though picketing may cause heavier traffic than normal.
Temporary clinicians are being brought in to support patients during the work stoppage, and patients should keep their scheduled appointments unless advised otherwise by their care teams, the hospital said.
The union said it is seeking more competitive wage increases that keep pace with the rising cost of living, among other demands. It cited data from the MassINC Policy Center, which said the income needed to maintain a middle-class standard of living for a family of four in Massachusetts jumped 50% from 2020 to 2024.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital said in a statement that Brigham nurses are “among the highest compensated in the market.”
Scott Sperling, Mass General Brigham board chair and co-CEO of a private equity firm, wrote to the association in an email on Sunday night, stating that a “substantial effort” has been made to find common ground, according to the association’s press release.
On Tuesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey released a joint statement encouraging both sides to resume negotiations.
“A strike and lockout of this scale would cause serious disruption across the Greater Boston region, and the possibility that patient care could be impacted through diversions, delays, or other emergency measures is deeply concerning to the communities we represent,” the statement said.
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