About 450 clinicians at Boston-based Mass General Brigham Home Care returned to work July 15 after a seven-day strike, part of what the Massachusetts Nurses Association called the largest healthcare labor dispute in the state’s history alongside a separate nursing strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, also in Boston, that concluded earlier this week.
The home care clinicians, including registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, social workers and dietitians, have been bargaining with MGB for more than a year over caseloads, productivity standards and wages, according to an MNA news release. They returned without a contract and pledged to continue negotiating.
The home care strike overlapped with a one-day strike and subsequent work stoppage at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where some 4,000 MNA-represented nurses walked off the job. Brigham nurses returned to work July 13, also without a contract. In a statement shared with Becker’s, MGB said negotiations between the parties remain primarily economic, with no patient or workplace safety issues currently on the table.
MGB paused new admissions to home care services June 28 to focus on its existing patient population, then reopened to high-need patients July 10 and resumed normal referral operations, the health system said. MGB hired more than 175 replacement clinicians during the strike, according to The Boston Globe.
Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health system with more than $2.7 billion in annual research activities, according to its website.
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