Baystate Health expressed disappointment in unionized nurses' plans to picket Monday outside the system's corporate headquarters in Springfield, Mass.
The nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, come from Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center and Westfield, Mass.-based Baystate Noble Hospital. During the picket, nurses and their supporters "will call on Baystate executives to allow local management to make fair contract agreements that protect patient care and allow quality RN working conditions," the union said.
In response to the planned picket, Baystate Health noted the union's recent actions at multiple hospitals in the state.
"The Massachusetts Nurses Association continues to attack and take divisive actions against our commonwealth's healthcare systems and hospitals. Today, the MNA plans to conduct an informational picket against Baystate Health in Springfield. We are disappointed by the MNA's ongoing use of a public pressure campaign and extreme tactics during its ongoing contract negotiations with our hospitals in Greenfield and Westfield," Jane Albert, senior vice president of marketing, communications and external relations said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review.
In addition, she said while the MNA is driven by "a singular agenda of legislatively mandated staffing ratios," Baystate Health is against such ratios, and "firmly believe [s] staffing should be determined by caregivers to address the changing needs of patients and not by arbitrary rules in a labor contract."
The MNA countered these claims by saying Massachusetts nurses are taking action against what they deem as inadequate staffing at Massachusetts hospitals. The union also noted nurses, as well as academic studies, drive the push for staffing limit legislation.
Ben Craft, senior director of government and public affairs at Baystate Health, said the health system presented its "last, best final offer" to the respective MNA bargaining committees June 21. Baystate Franklin believes the terms of that offer "are fair, balanced and competitive for our community hospitals' 351 nurses," he said.
Overall, Baystate Health encouraged unionized nurses to ratify the system's offers at Baystate Franklin and Baystate Noble "so we can move forward and continue to provide the best care for our patients and their families."
MNA nurses at Baystate Franklin and Baystate Noble have been in contract negotiations since November 2016 and February 2016, respectively.