Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have voted to authorize an open-ended, 4,000-member strike that could become the largest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association announced the 93% in favor vote that was held Thursday evening. No date has been set yet by the union, which is legally required to give employer Mass General Brigham (MGB) 10 days’ notice.
“Brigham nurses have made clear that we are prepared to stay on strike for as long as it takes to win a contract that protects our patients and respects the nurses who care for them,” Kelly Morgan, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital MNA Bargaining Committee, said in the union’s announcement. “An open-ended strike is a serious step that will undoubtedly create a healthcare crisis in Massachusetts. MGB can prevent the strike by returning to the table and negotiating the contract our nurses need to keep providing world-class care.”
Contract negotiations between the sides have been ongoing since last November, with the prior agreement expiring on March 31. In July, the nurses (plus an additional 450 home care clinicians) conducted a one-day awareness strike that was also a record breaker for the state and the first at Brigham and Women’s, a flagship hospital and founding member of the nonprofit system.
Demonstrations have continued in the weeks since, including a rally held earlier this week outside of an MGB-hosted World Medical Innovation Forum, where bargaining members painted a contrast between executives’ conversations with investors on AI and the demands of their clinical workforce.
The hospital, in statements given to press, said “we remain committed to bargaining in good faith and have put forward a fair and responsible proposal that maintains Brigham nurses’ market-leading compensation, preserves meaningful wage growth and competitive benefits, and balances those investments with the long-term financial sustainability of our system,” the hospital said in a statement given to press.
The hospital has previously said it has found agreements with the union on several issues. However, the union has previously said that talks stalled in mid-August and reiterated Thursday that it still is seeking limits on the use of temporary nurses, more affordable health insurance benefits and “a meaningful cost-of-living wage increase” that includes a differential for nurses floating between units.
MGB is the largest private employer in Massachusetts with roughly 85,000 workers and $22.8 billion in annual revenue, making it among the country’s largest nonprofit health systems. Financial results released last month outlined a $15 million operating income (0.1% operating margin) across nine months of its ongoing fiscal year, up from a $44 million operating loss (-0.3% operating margin), though its nine-month bottom line including nonoperating gains like investment returns was $1.9 billion. Early last year saw the organization undertake the largest layoffs in its history, when it cut about 1,500 workers.
The union has pointed to MGB’s bottom line (nearly $2.4 billion across fiscal 2025), substantial total assets ($35.8 billion) and the compensation of executives (almost $9.2 million for CEO Anne Klibanski, M.D.) in its calls for stronger contracts.