Nurses at Tufts Medical Center in Boston have authorized a strike for May 6, according to a Tufts Daily report.
The nurses join nurses from St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester, Mass., who have also announced they will strike on the same day — National Nurses Day. Both groups are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The strike, which could include up to 1,200 Tufts nurses, could cost the hospital up to $4.2 million in temporary staffing costs, according to the report. Although the strike is only scheduled to last one day, the nurses could be replaced for up to five, due to requirements that temporary nurses be provided a minimum of 60 hours of work, according to the report.
The nurses are at odds with hospital management over nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, which the nurses feel are too low.
Tufts CEO Ellen Zane called the strike part of the union's "selfish, self−serving agenda designed to increase MNA/NNU membership, and thus generate more union dues," according to the report.
Read the Tufts Daily report on the Tufts Medical Center nursing strike.
Read related articles on Tufts Medical Center:
Nurses at Tufts Medical Center Scheduled to Vote on Strike
Boston's Tufts Medical Center CEO Ellen Zane Retires
The nurses join nurses from St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester, Mass., who have also announced they will strike on the same day — National Nurses Day. Both groups are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The strike, which could include up to 1,200 Tufts nurses, could cost the hospital up to $4.2 million in temporary staffing costs, according to the report. Although the strike is only scheduled to last one day, the nurses could be replaced for up to five, due to requirements that temporary nurses be provided a minimum of 60 hours of work, according to the report.
The nurses are at odds with hospital management over nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, which the nurses feel are too low.
Tufts CEO Ellen Zane called the strike part of the union's "selfish, self−serving agenda designed to increase MNA/NNU membership, and thus generate more union dues," according to the report.
Read the Tufts Daily report on the Tufts Medical Center nursing strike.
Read related articles on Tufts Medical Center:
Nurses at Tufts Medical Center Scheduled to Vote on Strike
Boston's Tufts Medical Center CEO Ellen Zane Retires