Entrance of a Brigham and Women's Hospital building on Francis Street in Boston

Photo: jimcintosh / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Brigham Nurses Strike Postponed Ahead of Contract Vote

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Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Nurses Association postponed a planned Wednesday, Oct. 14 strike after negotiators agreed to put the hospital’s latest offer to a vote of all members, according to WBUR. The Brigham nurses strike was set to involve about 4,000 nurses at one of the busiest medical centers in Massachusetts. Here is what has been reported so far, and what is still unknown.

Brigham Nurses Strike Postponed: What Happened

WBUR reported on Sunday, Oct. 11, that the breakthrough came after a 13-hour negotiating session on Saturday, four days before the planned walkout. Nurses will report to work as usual on Oct. 14 and will not picket outside the hospital. The Boston Globe also reported that the nurses will consider the deal while the strike is on hold.

The union stopped short of announcing an agreement. In a statement released just before midnight Saturday, as quoted by WBUR, union leaders said the Brigham Nurses’ MNA Committee “has decided to postpone the strike to allow the 4,000 Brigham nurses to vote on this offer. Brigham nurses will decide our next steps.” The union said it will schedule an in-person vote. No date for that vote had been reported at the time of writing.

What the Hospital’s Offer Includes

Hospital officials called the proposal their “last, best and final offer,” per WBUR. The reported terms and background figures are:

  • Nurses would continue to receive the 5% step raises they get for each of their first 20 years on the job.
  • Senior nurses who no longer qualify for step increases would receive 2.5% increases.
  • The two sides also bargained over health insurance costs and the hospital’s reliance on temporary staff; WBUR did not list the final terms on those items.
  • Hospital leaders said salaries start at $86,700 a year and reach as much as $220,000 for the most experienced nurses.

The full written proposal has not been published in the sources reviewed for this article, so details beyond those above remain unconfirmed.

Where the Two Sides Disagree

The dispute has centered on across-the-board pay increases on top of the step raises. According to WBUR, the union said hospital parent company Mass General Brigham “continues to refuse to provide cost of living wage increases,” which the union described as a strategy it believes is intended to break the union. The hospital said in its own statement that its final proposal “reflects the value our nurses bring to patient care while balancing our responsibility to patients, our workforce, and the long-term strength of the hospital.” Both statements are positions of the parties; this report does not independently assess them.

Throughout the dispute, WBUR reported, nurses have pointed to the amounts Mass General Brigham pays executives, while hospital leaders have argued that Brigham nurses are well compensated. Members of the state’s congressional delegation also issued a statement this week urging a fair contract, according to WBUR.

Background: The July Strike and Lockout

This would have been the nurses’ second strike of 2026. In July, more than 4,000 Brigham nurses walked out for one day, and the hospital followed with a four-day lockout that ended July 13, which WBUR described as the largest nurses strike in state history. The Massachusetts Nurses Association published its account of the return to work on July 13, and WBUR covered the original July 8 walkout.

Before the postponement, the hospital had begun recruiting up to 2,000 temporary nurses to keep the hospital open during a strike. With the strike on hold, WBUR reported that the hospital will no longer use those temporary workers. WBUR also noted that a separate contract deal at Boston Medical Center, covering nearly 2,000 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses represented by 1199SEIU, avoided a planned strike at that hospital.

What Happens Next

The next step is the members’ vote. If nurses accept the offer, a contract would follow; if they reject it, the union said nurses “will decide our next steps,” and the sources reviewed do not say whether a new strike notice would be issued. Patients with appointments at the Brigham should expect normal operations on Oct. 14, per the reports, and can confirm any scheduling questions directly with the hospital.

For more local coverage, see our Boston news hub, our report on the Boston City Council’s Oct. 7 meeting and our look at Boston’s FY27 budget and property taxes. We will update this story when the vote date and result are announced.

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