Local News
The two sides reached the terms of the deal during a final meeting Wednesday following 11 months of tense negotiations.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses and Mass General Brigham management agreed on a tentative contract during a last-ditch meeting Wednesday night, on the doorstep of the largest open-ended nurses strike in Massachusetts history.
The agreement follows 11 months of tense negotiations between the two sides, including a one-day strike that turned into a four-day lockout, 28 bargaining sessions, an overwhelming vote for an open-ended strike, and a monthlong back-and-forth over wages.
Wednesday’s meeting, which began at noon, followed an unsuccessful 15-hour bargaining session on Monday. Without an agreement in place, the nurses were prepared to strike at 7 a.m. Thursday, while the hospital onboarded more than 800 temporary nurses to fill in.
Kelly Morgan, a nurse and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association bargaining committee, said she is “incredibly proud” of the nurses who stood to “protect the world-class patient care” the nurses provide.
“We secured this agreement with the help of countless community members, patients, unions and elected officials who supported us for many months. By standing together, we protected patients and the future of union nursing care at the Brigham,” Morgan said.
The agreement will not go into effect unless it is ratified by the unionized nurses, but the MNA bargaining committee will “recommend” that nurses ratify the agreement, the union said in a press release.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, meanwhile, wrote in a statement that it is “pleased” the two sides reached an agreement and the nurses called off their strike.
“We deeply value our Brigham nurses and believe this agreement recognizes their important contributions while supporting the long-term sustainability of our hospital and our ability to care for our patients and communities,” the hospital wrote in a statement.
The tentative contract addresses the union’s priorities in addressing the hospital’s reliance on traveling and temporary nurses, preserving affordable health insurance, and protecting the wage scale while remaining competitive to “recruit and retain” a strong workforce, according to the union.
Disagreements over wages became a major dividing point between the two sides. The union fought for across-the-board wage increases, while the hospital instead offered two 2.5 percent raises to the top step of the pay scale for the most tenured nurses.
The tentative contract added one new top step with a 2.5 percent increase this year and another 2.5 percent increase to that top step effective Sept. 30, 2027, according to the union’s release.
All nurses below the top step will receive a $1,000 pro-rated bonus based on full-time equivalent hours, according to the union.
“Importantly, the agreement was reached within the financial limits of the hospital’s last, best and final offer presented on Oct. 10,” according to a statement from the hospital.
The union previously scheduled the indefinite strike to begin in October, but the hospital’s “last, best, and final offer” put those plans on pause. The nurses discussed the earlier proposal, but ultimately rejected it on Oct. 23.
The nurses authorized the indefinite strike by a vote of 2,986 to 215, according to the union. The union gave the hospital the legally required 10-day notice of the strike last week.
The union staged a one-day strike in July, but the hospital locked the nurses out for another four days afterwards, citing contracts with temporary nurses that required the nurses filling in for striking workers to be on the job for five days.
“Every day, Brigham nurses provide extraordinary care to patients and families facing some of the most challenging moments of their lives,” said Jim McCarthy, a nurse and vice chair of the bargaining committee. “Our collective power as union nurses has made it possible to support and advocate for our patients while securing this tentative agreement.”
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