Saint Vincent, striking nurses to meet in mediation Monday
Photo | Grant Welker
Signs supporting striking Saint Vincent Hospital nurses can be seen dotting front yards in and around Worcester.
Saint Vincent Hospital and the hundreds of nurses who've been on strike since early March have hit a milestone of sorts: they'll be sitting down at the negotiating table Monday.
Restarting talks may be an early step toward Massachusetts Nurses Association nurses returning to work at the Worcester hospital, but it appears to be a sign the two sides — which haven't met since March 3 — are reaching a sort of detente.
Saint Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson said in a staff memo Friday evening the hospital will resume negotiation with the nurses union and a mediator on Monday, around the 50-day point of the strike.
The two sides are at odds primarily over patient staffing ratios, leading most of the roughly 800-nurse union to walk out March 8. The union says Saint Vincent, owned by the Dallas-based for-profit Tenet Healthcare, can afford to staff more nurses. The hospital says its staffing levels are safe and in line with the industry.
More than 100 union nurses have worked through the strike, a number that's slowly risen as the impasse has continued.
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