Healthcare workers from seven hospitals under Boston-based Steward Health Care are planning a protest outside the company’s headquarters next week, claiming the system has not honored agreements to workers, according to a Boston Business Journal report.
Protestors, including nurses and staff, said Steward has not honored a commitment to create a defined benefit pension plan. They also said the system threatened to eliminate essential services in retaliation for nurses requesting said pension plan, according to the report.
A Steward spokesperson said the nurses have a 401k retirement plan. When Steward created a cost-neutral pension plan, it was rejected by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The spokesperson also said the elimination of services was merely presented as a scenario of possible financial repercussions from the increased pension benefit, according to the report.
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