Newton Wellesley Hospital Nurses Voting on One-Day Strike

The registered nurses of Newton Wellesley Hospital, who are negotiating a new contract with Partners HealthCare, have scheduled a vote by the membership on Wednesday, June 10 to authorize a one-day strike to protest efforts by Partners to boost its multi-million dollar profits margin by cutting patients’ access to appropriate nursing care, said an announcement.

The nurses are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association and are in contract talks with Partners. They say these talks have stalled because Partners has “decreased core RN staffing levels on a number of floors and increased the floating of nurses to cover for staffing shortages -- a dangerous plan that is creating unsafe patient assignments for nurses, while also depriving patients of the specialized care they need to be safe during their hospital stay. “

According to the release, the nurses’ concerns about patient care have increased in recent months, as the hospital has already implemented “dangerous cuts” to RN staffing in the emergency department, while cutting staff and services for mothers and newborns in the hospital’s busy maternity unit.

“The NWH nurses are outraged by the hospital’s lack of effort to negotiate a fair settlement with the nurses in light of the fact that Partners HealthCare is the most profitable health care system in the state, if not all of New England, having generated more than $9 billion in revenues and having posted profits of more than $600 million,” said the release.

NWH generated profits over more than $11 million in the first two quarters of this year, and will make a $24 million profit for fiscal year 2015 – a 30 percent increase in profits over the previous year.

The strike authorization vote has been scheduled to take place throughout the day and into the evening on Wednesday, June 10.

“No nurse wants to strike, but we have no other option as Partners’ management continues to refuse to heed our concerns for the safety of our patients and the dignity of our nurses in the wake of unprecedented and unwarranted cuts to RN staffing levels and their plans to further cut staff in the years to come,” said Laurie Andersen, co-chair of the MNA Local Bargaining Unit and a nurse in the emergency department at the hospital, in a statement. “We are taking this vote and contemplating a one-day strike as a protest against these practices and to educate the public about how the issues at stake in these negotiations impact the quality and safety of their hospital care.”