Roughly 4,000 Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses were voting Thursday, September 24, 2026, on whether to authorize a potentially open-ended Brigham nurses strike Boston walkout, with balloting scheduled from about 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and results expected Thursday night.
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The Massachusetts Nurses Association says talks with Mass General Brigham have stalled over wages and health insurance. A yes vote would empower the bargaining committee to call an indefinite strike, though Massachusetts law still requires 10 days’ notice before any walkout begins and no strike date has been set.
Brigham nurses strike Boston vote follows July walkout
Thursday’s authorization vote comes after a one-day strike on July 8, 2026, followed by a roughly four-day lockout while the hospital system brought in temporary nurses. Union leaders argue that episode proved management can absorb disruption while refusing a deal the staff considers fair.
MNA spokesperson Joe Markman said negotiations remain stuck on pay and insurance design. Union chair Kelly Morgan contended that Mass General Brigham has the wealth to settle and that the impasse reflects corporate priorities rather than an inability to pay.
Wage gap: steps versus across-the-board raises
The union is seeking a 3 percent raise for the first six months and 4 percent over the following 12 months. The hospital has offered no new across-the-board increase, pointing instead to existing 5 percent step increases that apply during nurses’ first 20 years on the scale.
According to Mass General Brigham figures cited in bargaining, Brigham starting pay is about $86,700, while nurses with 20 or more years earn at least $220,000. Roughly 1,322 nurses—about one-third of the unit—are already at the top of the scale, the system says, limiting how much step progression still moves their paychecks.
MGB spokesperson Jessica Pastore said Brigham nurses rank among the highest paid and that the union’s ask is not sustainable. She added that the system is prepared to deliver safe care if a second strike occurs.
Insurance dispute over MGB Health Plan switches
Insurance remains a second flashpoint. Nurses want the option to move from the MGB Health Plan to Harvard Pilgrim when that choice is cheaper; Mass General Brigham has refused that switch while allowing movement in the opposite direction. Union bargainers call the one-way rule a cost-shifting trap; management frames plan design as a systemwide consistency issue.
Hospital administrators have quietly expanded contingency staffing plans since July, including contracts with traveling nurse agencies that proved costly during the prior lockout. Union leaflets circulating in Longwood break rooms argue those agency bills could have funded the across-the-board raises nurses are seeking.
City Councilors representing Fenway and Mission Hill neighborhoods have asked both sides to keep emergency departments fully staffed regardless of the Thursday night tally. Brigham’s trauma and birth services draw patients from across New England, amplifying the civic stakes of any open-ended Brigham nurses strike Boston authorization.
Regional strike authorizations raise pressure on MGB
The Brigham vote sits inside a broader Boston-area labor wave. About 2,000 Boston Medical Center nurses authorized a potential three-day strike earlier this month, and UMass Memorial nurses authorized action before averting a walkout with a three-year contract. Those precedents raise the stakes if Brigham members green-light an open-ended strike authorization tonight.
Patients scheduling elective procedures at the Longwood campus will watch Thursday night’s tally closely. Even with a 10-day legal notice period, an affirmative Brigham nurses strike Boston authorization would put the next move in the bargaining committee’s hands and force Mass General Brigham to decide how far it will move on wages and insurance before another shutdown looms.
Related coverage: Brigham Nurses Authorize Open-Ended Strike With 93% Vote and Boston Overdose Response Grants: $700K for Six Groups.
Update: Nurses voted 2,986 to 215, about 93% of ballots cast, to authorize an open-ended strike, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association and NBC Boston. The vote did not set a strike date, and any strike requires 10 days’ notice.
Sources
- NBC Boston: Brigham nurses vote to authorize open-ended strike
- Massachusetts Nurses Association: Brigham nurses vote to authorize strike
- Boston Business Journal: 4,000 Brigham nurses authorize strike
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