What's Next: St. Vincent Nurses Rebuff Hospital's 'Final' Offer

WORCESTER, MA — Executives at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester issued a "last, best and final" offer to striking nurses on Thursday. The nurses rejected the offer hours later calling it an "unsatisfactory ultimatum."

The Massachusetts Nurses Union (MNA) says the striking nurses will now meet with a federal labor mediator to figure out what comes next, according to a statement issued by the union Thursday night.

On Friday, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern and Lori Trahan sent a letter to St. Vincent Hospital's parent company, Tenet Healthcare, urging the use of a federal mediator to resume talks.

"It is essential — for your patients and for the communities you serve - that Tenet meet the needs of its front-line workers. Once again, we urge Tenet to use the assistance offered by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services or engage in any other mutually agreed upon processes to end the strike so St. Vincent’s nurses can go back to caring for their community," the letter said, according to the MNA.

The nurses are mainly demanding an increase in staffing levels across the hospital. According to a St. Vincent spokesman, the final offer issued Thursday included a boost in resource nurses across 20 units at the hospital, plus other staffing increases.

The MNA said the offer still failed to "provide the improvements in staffing that nurses need to keep patients safe and end the strike."

The strike began in early March and reached its 151st day on Thursday. The final offer came as tensions rose between the nurses and the for-profit hospital. St. Vincent began scaling back services on Monday — hundreds of nurses are part of the strike — and one day later rejected an offer to bring negotiations to Washington, D.C.