St. V’s nurses strike
Nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester walked off the job Monday morning, staging a strike over a stand-off in contract negotiations for better staffing measures with the hospital’s owner, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.
“We need safer staffing and we need it now. We are not going to accept anything less,” Saint Vincent Nurse Marie Ritacco told the Herald.
Ritacco said the energy on the line Monday morning was “tremendous” with over 500 nurses turning out on the picket line. “Nurses know that what they are doing is for their patients and they know they are on the right side of this.”
Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson said Monday that “qualified” replacement nurses have been fully trained, oriented and are in place throughout the hospital.
“Quality is the cornerstone of everything we do here at Saint Vincent, and our community can be assured that we have taken the appropriate steps to ensure we will be able to remain focused on providing exceptional, safe, quality care to our patients despite the strike action being taken by the (Massachusetts Nurses Association),” Jackson said.
A hospital spokesperson on Sunday told the Herald they have “listened attentively to our nurses and made multiple increasing offers to the (Massachusetts Nurses Association).”
Last week, Tenet made an offer to increase some staffing levels and pay, but the nurses with the Massachusetts Nurses Association said the proposal didn’t go far enough and came back with a counterproposal.
Negotiations broke down after that counteroffer did not result in a deal.
The state’s Department of Public Health said it was monitoring strike activity and would have staff on site daily to make sure the hospital’s contingency plans are adhered to, and to ensure patient safety and quality care.
Strike demonstrations are due to take place daily from 6 a.m. to midnight until a settlement is reached, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The strike is the second by nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital. The first took place in 2000, lasting 49 days, and was only settled after a mediation session brokered in the Washington, D.C., offices of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Ritacco said she has “every reason to believe” Tenet will be calling the nurses back to the negotiating table.
The hospital blasted the strike, called as the state contends with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“This strike will only exacerbate divisiveness during a critical stage of the COVID19 pandemic when we should be coming together to care for our patients and community,” a hospital spokesperson told the Herald.
Chris Christo contributed to this report