Brigham and Women’s nurses ratify contract, avoid strike

Unionized nurses at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital have ratified a new three-year labor contract, avoiding what would have been the largest nurses strike in Massachusetts history.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which represents more than 3,300 nurses at Brigham, said July 20 that its members “voted overwhelmingly” in favor of a tentative agreement which had first been reached on June 26, just before a planned one-day strike.

“The ratification of this new contract leaves no doubt that front-line nurses can and should stand up for safe patient care and professional respect,” said Kelly Morgan, a labor and delivery nurse and vice chair of the MNA Bargaining Unit. “When a health care employer recognizes that a unionized workplace is a democratic and productive workplace, patients are protected and nurses’ voices are heard.”

Hospital president Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, called the labor talks “logistically and emotionally challenging for every member of the Brigham community,” and said the hospital is glad to put the negotiations “behind us.”

Contract disputes haven’t been settled at another Brigham hospital, the 150-bed Faulkner Hospital. A separate bargaining unit of nurses will hold an informational picket July 22 for two hours, involving only nurses who aren’t scheduled to work at that time.