Hospital ups offer ahead of strike date
St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester says it’s offering increased staffing and extended contract terms to the Massachusetts Nurses Association ahead of a planned nurses strike.
But the nurses union said the hospital’s offer does not go far enough, and they’re crafting a counterproposal.
The hospital officials presented the offer during Monday night’s negotiating session. This comes after the group of 800 nurses last week delivered a strike notice to hospital management, saying they’re ready to go on strike starting March 8 amid the contract fight with Tenet Health Care.
The fight over the new contract is centered on staffing issues.
“This offer represents a good faith effort to resolve the issues and reach an agreement,” Carolyn Jackson, Saint Vincent CEO, said in a statement. “It is an improvement of our existing, contracted staffing levels, which are already considered among the best of all Massachusetts hospitals, and keeps the competitive wage increases and bonus we had offered previously. In sum, it’s an outstanding offer intended to attract and retain a qualified nursing staff to serve our community.”
The new staffing guidelines in the offer include adding COVID-19 staffing guidelines during the declared State of Emergency. That would mean no nurse on a medical/surgical floor would be assigned more than four coronavirus patients, and no nurse in the Progressive Care Unit would be assigned more than two coronavirus patients.
The hospital also maintained its offer to add a dedicated Critical Care float position.
“The staffing guideline additions reflect our commitment to reach an agreement and willingness to address staffing concerns specific to our operations,” Jackson said. “We have continued to indicate to the MNA that we will not consider across-the-board staffing ratios like those rejected by voters in the statewide ballot question in 2018. That issue should be addressed through appropriate state legislative channels.”
Also in the offer, the hospital extended the contract expiration date to December 2024.
“This extended offer will provide potential wage increases up to 36% for some nurses,” Jackson said. “We are hopeful for a positive response and request that the MNA leadership withdraws the strike notice. It is in the best interest of our nurses and community to prioritize reaching an agreement rather than focusing on strike preparations.”
The MNA said the offer does not go far enough, and they hope to continue negotiations.
The hospital’s proposal did not make any changes to the staffing levels sought by the nurses on 10 other units where the majority of patients are cared for, the union said. Those units include the critical care units, emergency department, and other medical surgical floors.
“We are committed to continuing the process started tonight to reach an agreement to avert a strike,” said Marlena Pellegrino, cochair of the bargaining unit. “But this proposal fails to provide us with what we need to keep our patients safe, and if nothing changes, we will be forced to strike as our patients’ lives are on the line without the improvements we are seeking.”