Saint Vincent, MNA reach tentative strike-end agreement
Photo | Matt Wright
Nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital have continued picketing as an ongoing strike originally started over patient-to-nurse staffing ratios enters its ninth month.
After being brought to the mediation table with the U.S. labor secretary, Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and the Massachusetts Nurses Association announced a tentative agreement to end an historic nine-month nurses strike on Friday night.
Under the agreement, all striking nurses would return to their previous positions, addressing the final sticking point after negotiations between the two camps broke down in August. Before the issue of returning nurses to their jobs caused negotiations to stall, the MNA and the hospital, which is owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Texas, had negotiated a contract which assuaged many of the nurses’ demands.
The union nurses still have to ratify the deal.
Details are being withheld until it is finalized, but Saint Vincent said it would also, under the tentative agreement, retain the replacement nurses the hospital hired as the strike wore on, also in their current positions.
In a Friday statement, the MNA said the agreement was reached after two weeks of discussions with federal mediators, culminating in an in-person session held Friday, mediated by U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, former mayor of Boston.
The strike, which began on March 8, largely hinged on patient-to-nurse staffing ratios. The strike has lasted for 285 days.
The hospital said in a Friday statement it decided to allow the striking nurses to return to their previous positions after looking at what it called the clinical challenges expected this winter across the state. Massachusetts, like much of the country, is experiencing yet another surge of coronavirus, resulting in an inpatient bed shortage and packed intensive care units.
In July, Saint Vincent announced it was closing 100 hospital beds, blaming the nurse strike. That included closing 80 staffed inpatient beds, eight procedural rooms, and closing select outpatient services. The closures provoked pressure from state officials in November, including the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Gov. Charlie Baker.
Saint Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson framed the tentative compromise Friday night as a chance to unify staff at the hospital.
“The new contract will provide enhancements for patients and our team, and we are glad to finally end the strike and put our sole focus back on patient care,” Jackson said in a statement.
The MNA, in turn, said its nurses were returning to the building with their heads held high, citing community support received throughout the work stoppage.
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