The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Boston-based Tufts Medical Center have agreed to reschedule their next negotiating session so the union can further evaluate the hospital's latest contract offer.
Both sides were scheduled to return to the bargaining table Monday, but they will now resume negotiations Oct. 4 and Oct. 5.
"Because of the timing of when we got the proposal in relation to our next scheduled session, and because the proposal needed extensive review, both parties agreed to postpone the Sept. 18 session and reschedule for Oct. 4 and Oct. 5," the union said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review. "Those October dates were chosen based on the parties' availability, not necessarily because that amount of time was needed for review."
The MNA, which represents approximately 1,200 Tufts nurses, and management resumed negotiations Aug. 31, marking the first negotiation session since Tufts nurses went on strike in July. Last week alone, both sides held three negotiating sessions at the office of a federal mediator, Tufts said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review.
"We have important and complicated issues in front of us and continue to spend a great deal of time face to face asking and answering questions and having the sort of extensive conversations that we need to have to find creative solutions," the hospital added.
The MNA and Tufts have been in negotiations since April 2016.