TUFTS, NURSES FAIL TO REACH DEAL
Last-ditch effort slated for Tuesday
Tufts Medical Center and its nurses union failed to reach a resolution during a negotiating meeting yesterday after which the hospital stressed it is well prepared for a planned strike next week.
“Negotiations ended today because the union continues to demand more money that the hospital does not have,” hospital spokeswoman Rhonda Mann said. “They proclaim to be patient safety advocates, yet they have called on our nurses to walk out on patients.”
She added, “While we hope the union decides to take our offer seriously and truly act in the best interest of both our nurses and our patients, we are ready to provide top quality care next week and always.”
The union’s qualms center on staffing issues, pay and pensions. Tufts nurses have said they are paid considerably less than their counterparts at other local hospitals and that the disparity results in the hospital losing talent.
Tufts will use 300 temporary nurses during the potential oneday strike and subsequent fourday Massachusetts Nurses Association said it was clear “management was not willing to actually negotiate” during the meeting.
Although negotiations have been taking place for more than a year, the nurses say outstanding issues have given the union no other choice but to strike.
In an internal memo Thursday, the hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer Therese Hudson Jinks said the hospital’s final proposal would bring Tufts “to within four percent of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“Now given the strike notice we must spend this money to prepare for the strike,” the email read. “By the end of this week there is a good chance we will spend the entire margin we earned over the entire fiscal year 2016, and the strike hasn’t yet occurred.”
The hospital has said there will be added security, cops and “ambassadors at every door” to help patients navigate potential issues caused by pickets during the strike and lockout. The hospital is working with U.S. Nursing staffing agency, and the stand-in staff will each receive $65 an hour.
Located at 800 Washington St. in Boston, Tufts Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine.