Nurses and clinicians from Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham who are part of the Massachusetts Nurses Association are rallying outside the health system’s World Medical Innovation Forum Sept. 22-23.
Five things to know:
1. The rallies call on Mass General Brigham to invest in patients and workers instead of strategies that reduce staffing, according to a Sept. 21 news release from the union. The Sept. 23 rally will focus on urging the system to “invest in people over their AI models,” the release said. The union added that the two sides have not held a negotiating session since August.
2. The rallies come ahead of a Sept. 24 vote among 4,000 Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses on whether to authorize a potential open-ended strike. A “yes” vote would authorize the MNA Bargaining Committee to call an open-ended strike, if necessary. No strike date has been determined, and nurses are legally required to provide a 10-day notice before any strike begins.
3. Mass General Brigham disputed that characterization in a Sept. 21 statement shared with Becker’s, saying the two sides have held 25 negotiating sessions and that it has bargained in good faith with the union. The health system said negotiations are now at an impasse “given the MNA’s unwillingness to adjust their proposal,” and that patient and workplace safety proposals are not part of the current contract disagreement, with the remaining issues economic.
“We respect the right of individuals to express their views lawfully and peacefully,” the health system spokesperson said. “Our focus is on ensuring a safe, orderly forum for speakers, attendees, staff, media, and visitors. WMIF is grounded in the belief that health care benefits from collaborative innovation across industry, academia, providers, and other critical stakeholders working together to improve patients’ lives.”
4. The MNA said Brigham nurses are seeking limits on the hospital’s reliance on temporary nurses, affordable health insurance with meaningful plan choice, fair compensation for nurses required to float among units, and a cost-of-living wage increase.
Mass General Brigham said Brigham nurses are already among the highest-paid nurses locally, statewide and nationally, with compensation in the top 10% of the acute care hospital market, and that Brigham nurse base wages have increased by an average of 55% over the past five fiscal years, compared with a 14% increase in payment rates to cover the cost of care over the same period.
5. The union said the MNA’s current proposal calls for an additional 7% across-the-board payment on top of the 5% nurses receive annually and the 3% across-the-board increase they received in October.
Mass General Brigham said that proposal would add approximately $90 million in annual wage increases plus an $11.2 million ratification bonus, bringing total annual nursing labor costs at the Brigham alone to nearly $1 billion — a level of expense growth the system called “unsustainable” and said would pressure its ability to preserve access, affordability and long-term investment in patient care. The system said its own proposal preserves the current 20-step wage scale, continues annual increases of 5% for nurses progressing through the scale and adds 2.5% increases or bonuses for nurses already at the top step.
