Massachusetts governor urges Saint Vincent Hospital, striking nurses to resume talks

As a nurses' strike enters its seventh month at Saint Vincent Hospital, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is urging the Massachusetts Nurses Association and hospital management to return to the bargaining table.

"The commonwealth needs every available healthcare resource fully operational while we are responding to this pandemic. It's time for both parties to get back to the table and reach consensus," the governor tweeted Sept. 24.  

The strike at Worcester-based Saint Vincent has resulted in reduced services and the hiring of replacement nurses at the hospital, part of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.  

At issue is the striking nurses' demand that they return to work in their previous roles.

In a statement released Sept. 24, the union said nurses were ready to return to work weeks ago, when the union agreed to negotiated staffing improvements. But the hospital's "back to work" provision "is not only unfair to nurses, but its replacement of highly skilled nurses with lesser qualified staff would undermine all the patient safety gains the parties had negotiated," the union said.

Marie Ritacco, RN, vice president of the union, said the hospital is refusing to remove this roadblock and asked the governor to do whatever he can to break the impasse. 

The union also is demanding that complaints filed against the hospital with the National Labor Relations Board be resolved as a part of any return-to-work agreement.  

Saint Vincent said Sept. 25 the union is not taking responsibility for its role in prolonging the dispute. 

According to the hospital, Saint Vincent has offered several solutions to resolve the return-to-work concerns. Saint Vincent said it has offered "super seniority rights" for permanently replaced strikers, alternative roles for each permanently replaced striker and enhanced severance for permanently replaced strikers who do not want to return to work. 

"Our attorney explained that he was willing to present us with any creative solutions the MNA had, as long as it did not involve involuntarily displacing the permanent replacement nurses. It is critical that our return-to-work proposal includes roles for all nurses given the nursing shortage across Massachusetts and the country," the hospital said.

The hospital said the union's attorney said he would discuss ideas with the union executive director, but Saint Vincent has not heard anything from them. 

Saint Vincent said it remains willing to discuss creative solutions to end the strike. 

The union also expressed its willingness to try to move things forward.

"We sincerely hope Tenet will change its position, and in the meantime, we will continue to work through the federal mediators and the National Labor Relations to find a way to move the process forward," said Ms. Ritacco.

The strike began March 8. 

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