Business & Tech
'Sad Milestone': Worcester Nurses Strike Reaches 8 Months
The St. Vincent nurses strike is now the longest nurses strike in state history, and one of the longest active strikes in the nation.
WORCESTER, MA — Hundreds of nurses on strike in Worcester marked eight months on the picket line Monday as a return-to-work agreement continues to be at issue.
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital walked off the job in March, demanding new staffing levels inside the hospital and a new employment contract. Over eight months, the nurses and hospital executives have waged a bitter public battle over the strike.
"[A]nother sad milestone in their struggle against Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, a for-profit corporation that has spent more than $100 million and engaged in a number of unfair labor practices to retaliate against the nurses for exercising their right to advocate for safer patient care," the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) said in a news release over the weekend.
Find out what's happening in Worcesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The strike has attracted national attention, and every federal elected official in Massachusetts, from U.S. Sen. Ed Markey to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, has backed the nurses. Local politicians have also walked the picket line and asked hospital executives to end the strike.
In August, the two sides reached an agreement over staffing levels and pay. But the hospital said that as many as 15 percent of striking nurses would not be able to return to the jobs they left in March. St. Vincent has hired over 100 nurses to replace those who went out on strike. The return-to-work agreement also demanded the MNA drop several unfair labor practice complaints filed against the hospital.
Find out what's happening in Worcesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In mid-October, St. Vincent acted to "unilaterally implement the last, best, and final offer" to nurses, effectively ending negotiations between the two sides.
"After numerous unsuccessful attempts to end this strike, we arrived at an impasse," Tenet CEO Saumya Sutaria said in an Oct. 22 letter to federal elected officials.
St. Vincent owner Tenet Health is one of the largest for-profit hospital owners in the nation. The company reported $448 million in profits for the third quarter, and raised its annual revenue outlook to $5.1 billion.
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