Unionized nurses plan to picket Aug. 7 outside Baystate Health'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 a statement.
"Nurses have been actively negotiating on behalf of our patients and colleagues for months, but local management has no power to bargain in good faith," Donna Stern, RN, senior co-chair of the Baystate Franklin MNA Bargaining Unit, said. "Instead, executives from Baystate's corporate offices in Springfield refuse to actually negotiate. They delay, mislead the public and bully nurses and other staff. We want Baystate to be held accountable for providing safe patient care at all times, while Baystate wants to stop us at all costs."
Ben Craft, senior director of government and public affairs at Baystate Health, said in a statement the health system presented its "last, best final offer" to the respective MNA bargaining committees June 21. He said Baystate Franklin believes the terms of that offer "are fair, balanced and competitive for our community hospitals' 351 nurses."
"Our offer will help us adapt to the changes happening in healthcare, to meet the unprecedented need to get the most out of every healthcare dollar we spend, and to invest equitably in many different parts of our workforce and our organization so we can continue to serve our patients. We've communicated this to the union, to our nurses and to the federal mediator who has been involved with our negotiations," he added.
Mr. Craft said MNA is holding two membership meetings over the next two weeks with nurses, and "we expect the union to share with nurses the facts about our offer, and we hope the nurses will ratify it."
He added, "We've been negotiating in good faith with the union for many months, and at this point the ball is in their court."
MNA nurses at Baystate Franklin and Baystate Noble have been in contract negotiations since November 2016 and February 2016, respectively.
More articles on human capital and risk:
Nurses pursue unionization vote at CHI hospital in North Dakota
Walz: Mayo Clinic did not 'fully and proactively engage the Albert Lea community' in consolidation decision
Union supporters protest in California over treatment of contracted valet employees