Many of the nearly 1,200 registered nurses at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center plan to picket Wednesday over ongoing contract negotiations, reports the Boston Business Journal.
The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have been in ongoing contract negotiations since April 2016. Since then, more than 20 bargaining sessions have taken place, with the next bargaining session scheduled for Thursday, according to the report.
"We will be outside the hospital Wednesday evening because we want the public to know we are completely dedicated to keeping Tufts patients safe and healthy," Barbara Tiller, RN and co-chair of the MNA bargaining unit at Tufts, said in a union news release. "But management's decisions around staffing, as well as how they hire, train and treat their staff nurses, negatively affect our ability to deliver top-quality care to our patients."
In an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review, Tufts said it "remains committed to reaching agreement with the Massachusetts Nurses Association through thoughtful and constructive dialogue at the bargaining table."
The medical center added: "We have six negotiation sessions scheduled where we will be working with a federal mediator to reach consensus on contract terms that support our nurses and ensure the long-term financial viability of our medical center. Those are certainly goals we can all agree to."
Tufts said it reached an agreement with MNA to extend the nurses' current contract until May 22.
Last month, Tufts nurses voted for a potential one-day strike, which means the union may call a strike if it so chooses. The union said it plans to schedule a walkout if contract negotiations go on for an extended period of time, according to the report.
"The purpose of our strike authorization vote was to tell management how serious we are about resolving these issues as part of our contract talks," Mary Havlicek Cornacchia, RN and bargaining unit co-chair, said in the union release. "The purpose of our informational picket is to inform the public about what is at stake if these issues continue to go unresolved. It's a matter of people's health and safety."