More than nine months after nurses walked off the job at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, a tentative deal could bring the second-longest nursing strike in Massachusetts history to an end. “We’re really happy. This is our hospital. I’ve been here 49 years and I want to get back in there and do my job,” said Ann Allia, a nurse. “I think everybody decided it had gone on a little too long and with winter coming, patient census spiking and COVID numbers increasing, it’s really the right decision to bring as many nurses as possible back to the bedside,” said hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, mediated the final negotiation session on Friday, the Massachusetts Nurses Association said. A source familiar with the negotiation says Walsh traveled back to Massachusetts Thursday night from Washington specifically to spend the day mediating the negotiation. “After months of negotiations, I was gratified today to be with both parties as we crafted a final agreement together to end the strike,” Walsh said in a statement. “I want to thank both St. Vincent Hospital and Massachusetts Nurses Association for their dedication to getting this done and for continuing to keep our community healthy.”Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said the deal, which is the culmination of more than two years of negotiations, was a team effort. “Sec. Walsh was a big part of this, but also congressman Jim McGovern who’s been involved with this from the very beginning, the state delegation, city councilors, a lot of election officials and union leaders and management on both sides,” said Petty. Hundreds of members of the MNA went on strike since March 8, hoping to negotiate a contract that sets better staff-to-patient ratios.The hospital’s parent company, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, scaled back some services at the hospital in late July and then hired dozens of replacement nurses in early August to fill the positions of the striking nurses.In September, doctors at St. Vincent sent a letter to the MNA asking the striking nurses to return to work to help deal with a surge of COVID-19 patients.Seven months after the strike began, the hospital make a public “last, best and final offer” to end the strike. At the time, MNA representatives said members would reject the offer until all nurses could be guaranteed they would return to their previous positions in the hospital. Friday’s announcement from St. Vincent said the agreement reached with the MNA will restore striking nurses to their previous roles while keeping all permanent replacement nurses in their current positions. Additional specifics were not provided in the hospital’s statement.”The new contract will provide enhancements for patients and our team, and we are glad to finally end the strike and put our sole focus back on patient care,” hospital Jackson said in her written statement.”With this agreement we can go back into that building with great pride not just in what we got in writing in the agreement, but for what we have built together as nurses who know they did everything they could for their patients and their community,” said Dominique Muldoon, a nurse at the hospital and Co-Chair of the bargaining unit. “Once this is ratified by the members, we are now committed to getting back into that building as soon as possible to provide the care our patients deserve.” “Today’s tentative agreement between the St. Vincent Hospital nurses and Tenet Healthcare is a win for Worcester, for organized labor, for the health care workers who have stood on the frontlines of this pandemic, and, ultimately, for patients. We are pleased to see this agreement includes a guarantee for all nurses who went out on strike the right to return to work in the same position, as well as the improvements to patient safety,” Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jim McGovern said in a joint statement. ” As Massachusetts is again seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, we are grateful that these health care heroes are able to return to work.
More than nine months after nurses walked off the job at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, a tentative deal could bring the second-longest nursing strike in Massachusetts history to an end.
“We’re really happy. This is our hospital. I’ve been here 49 years and I want to get back in there and do my job,” said Ann Allia, a nurse.
“I think everybody decided it had gone on a little too long and with winter coming, patient census spiking and COVID numbers increasing, it’s really the right decision to bring as many nurses as possible back to the bedside,” said hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson.
Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, mediated the final negotiation session on Friday, the Massachusetts Nurses Association said. A source familiar with the negotiation says Walsh traveled back to Massachusetts Thursday night from Washington specifically to spend the day mediating the negotiation.
“After months of negotiations, I was gratified today to be with both parties as we crafted a final agreement together to end the strike,” Walsh said in a statement. “I want to thank both St. Vincent Hospital and Massachusetts Nurses Association for their dedication to getting this done and for continuing to keep our community healthy.”
Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said the deal, which is the culmination of more than two years of negotiations, was a team effort.
“Sec. Walsh was a big part of this, but also congressman Jim McGovern who’s been involved with this from the very beginning, the state delegation, city councilors, a lot of election officials and union leaders and management on both sides,” said Petty.
Hundreds of members of the MNA went on strike since March 8, hoping to negotiate a contract that sets better staff-to-patient ratios.
The hospital’s parent company, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, scaled back some services at the hospital in late July and then hired dozens of replacement nurses in early August to fill the positions of the striking nurses.
In September, doctors at St. Vincent sent a letter to the MNA asking the striking nurses to return to work to help deal with a surge of COVID-19 patients.
Seven months after the strike began, the hospital make a public “last, best and final offer” to end the strike. At the time, MNA representatives said members would reject the offer until all nurses could be guaranteed they would return to their previous positions in the hospital.
Friday’s announcement from St. Vincent said the agreement reached with the MNA will restore striking nurses to their previous roles while keeping all permanent replacement nurses in their current positions. Additional specifics were not provided in the hospital’s statement.
“The new contract will provide enhancements for patients and our team, and we are glad to finally end the strike and put our sole focus back on patient care,” hospital Jackson said in her written statement.
“With this agreement we can go back into that building with great pride not just in what we got in writing in the agreement, but for what we have built together as nurses who know they did everything they could for their patients and their community,” said Dominique Muldoon, a nurse at the hospital and Co-Chair of the bargaining unit. “Once this is ratified by the members, we are now committed to getting back into that building as soon as possible to provide the care our patients deserve.”
“Today’s tentative agreement between the St. Vincent Hospital nurses and Tenet Healthcare is a win for Worcester, for organized labor, for the health care workers who have stood on the frontlines of this pandemic, and, ultimately, for patients. We are pleased to see this agreement includes a guarantee for all nurses who went out on strike the right to return to work in the same position, as well as the improvements to patient safety,” Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jim McGovern said in a joint statement. ” As Massachusetts is again seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, we are grateful that these health care heroes are able to return to work.