Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses have authorized an open-ended strike, with 93% voting yes in balloting that ended Thursday, Sept. 24, raising the stakes in a months-long Brigham nurses strike standoff with Mass General Brigham in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. No walkout date has been set.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association said 2,986 nurses backed the authorization and 215 opposed it, according to WBUR and the State House News Service. The union called it the largest number of nurses ever to support a strike authorization in Massachusetts. Under the law, nurses must give the hospital at least 10 days’ notice before walking off the job.
Brigham Nurses Strike Vote Follows July Walkout
The vote comes about two and a half months after Brigham nurses staged a one-day strike on July 8. Mass General Brigham then kept the nurses out for four more days because of its contract with temporary replacement nurses, Boston.com reported. This time, the union says, a strike would continue until a contract is reached.
“Brigham nurses have made clear that we are prepared to stay on strike for as long as it takes,” Kelly Morgan, a labor and delivery nurse who chairs the Brigham bargaining committee, said in a statement, adding that an open-ended strike would “undoubtedly create a healthcare crisis in Massachusetts” unless the system returns to the table. Our preview of the balloting, Brigham Nurses Vote on Open-Ended Boston Strike Authorization, lays out the wage and insurance proposals on each side.
Mass General Brigham Responds on Pay and Bargaining
The hospital said the decision to strike “rests with the union” and that it remains committed to bargaining in good faith, describing its offer as one that preserves market-leading pay and competitive benefits while protecting the system’s long-term finances. Mass General Brigham has said nurses receive annual 5% raises through a 20-step wage scale and that it proposed a new 2.5% increase for nurses at the top step, WBUR reported. The system also said 11 nurses in the bargaining unit earned more than $300,000 last year.
The union counters that talks have stalled since August. According to the MNA, management stopped meeting on Aug. 11 after offering nurses a choice between pursuing a cost-of-living raise or negotiating other patient-care proposals—a framing nurses rejected. Nurses say they want a stronger permanent workforce, limits on travel nurses, affordable health insurance with real plan choices, and fair compensation.
What a Longwood Strike Could Mean for Patients
Brigham and Women’s says it is prepared to keep caring for patients if nurses walk out, as it did in July with replacement staff. The authorization lands amid wider strain in Boston’s health care workforce: nurses at Boston Medical Center voted earlier this month to authorize a three-day strike, and state leaders are weighing MassHealth funding pressures detailed in our report on Healey’s $2.24 billion supplemental budget. Patients with upcoming procedures at the Brigham should watch for any 10-day strike notice, which would be the clearest signal that a walkout is coming.