Local
Brigham and Women's nurses, hospital return to bargaining table with strike days away
Unionized nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital resumed contract negotiations Monday for the first time since Oct. 10, hoping to avert an open-ended strike set to begin Thursday. Roughly 4,000 nurses are seeking cost-of-living raises and limits on travel nurses, while the hospital's parent cites financial strain.
BOSTON â Unionized nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital returned to the bargaining table with hospital management on Monday, the first negotiating session since Oct. 10, in a last-ditch effort to head off an open-ended strike scheduled to begin Thursday.
The two sides have been deadlocked for months over pay and staffing. The nurses' union, representing roughly 4,000 members at the Longwood Medical Area hospital, is pressing for a cost-of-living increase and for limits on how long privately contracted travel nurses can be assigned to the hospital. Nurses say rising inflation and Boston's steep housing costs have eroded their paychecks and made it harder to retain and recruit permanent staff.
Hospital management has pointed to a difficult financial picture. Brigham's corporate parent, Mass General Brigham, the state's largest health care system, has said it must strengthen its operating margin and last month began an unspecified round of layoffs and program changes across the system. Those cuts have added tension to the talks, with nurses arguing that frontline staffing should not be squeezed while executives pursue financial targets.
The dispute has been building since the summer, when nurses held a one-day strike outside the hospital in July. That action drew support from passing motorists and other unions, including a Teamsters truck that honked in solidarity as nurses picketed. Since then, negotiations have sputtered, and the union has authorized an open-ended walkout if no agreement is reached.
If the strike goes forward Thursday, it would mark a significant escalation in a year of labor unrest across the region's health care sector. Hospital officials have said they have arranged for replacement nurses to be ready to staff the facility in the event of a walkout, a move the union has criticized as costly and disruptive to patient care.
A prolonged strike at the Brigham would ripple well beyond the hospital's campus. The facility is one of the region's major trauma and referral centers, and a work stoppage could force diversions, delay elective procedures and strain neighboring hospitals already coping with high patient volumes.
Both sides have said they prefer a negotiated settlement. Whether Monday's session produces one â or at least enough progress to pause the strike clock â remained unclear as talks got underway. Negotiations were expected to continue through the week, with Thursday's strike deadline looming.