The vote authorizes the negotiating committee within the Massachusetts Nurses Association — which represents 209 nurses at the hospital — to declare a strike if necessary.
The nurses have been negotiating contracts with the hospital since October and have been without a contract since the spring. The MNA says there have been 25 separate negotiation sessions, but salaries, healthcare insurance coverage, overtime and sick time remain in dispute.
Chuck Gijanto, president of Baystate Regional Markets — part of Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health — said the vote “puts a serious strain on the unity we have enjoyed in doing what is best for our patients and the community we serve,” according to the report, and called the vote a “sad moment.”
More Articles on Hospitals and Unions:
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