Worcester Nurses Strike Over: Union Vote Affirms New Contract

WORCESTER, MA — The longest nurses strike in Massachusetts — and one of the longest in the nation this year — is over after 301 days.

St. Vincent Hospital nurses on Monday voted to approve a new contract with their employer, an agreement that includes a return-to-work provision guaranteeing that nurses who went on strike can return to their original jobs. The final vote was 489 in favor and nine opposed, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association union.

The agreement between the nurses at St. Vincent, which is owned by the for-profit Tenet Healthcare Corp., came after two years of negotiations — including many sessions held during the strike, which began on March 8. The final agreement was hammered out in mid-December with former Boston mayor and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh acting as a mediator.

With the agreement ratified, nurses should begin returning to work by Jan. 22, according to a St. Vincent spokesperson.

"Tonight’s vote is an historic victory for the heroic nurses at St. Vincent who refused to budge until they secured the protections and staffing conditions their patients deserve," U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Fitchburg, said in a news release after the vote. Trahan and every other member of Congress from Massachusetts supported the nurses. "They wanted nothing more than to return to work for months, and they risked their livelihoods on the picket line each day to achieve that goal."

The nurses' main goal during the strike was to increase staffing levels across all parts of the hospital. The hospital agreed to reduce the number of patients assigned to each nurse in many areas.

"For nearly 10 months our nurses have walked the line for safer patient care, for the honor of our profession and for the right of all workers who make the difficult decision to engage in a lawful strike to return to their original positions," nurse and union leader Marlena Pellegrino said. "As we stand here tonight, we can proudly say we have achieved our goals."

Here are some of the provisions in the new agreement, according to the MNA:

• Limiting nurses to either four or five patients across seven post-surgical and step-down units; a max of five patients — down from six — in the behavioral health unit; and limiting nurse staff "flexing," a practice where managers can send nurses home based on patient volume.
• Increases in workplace safety, including adding a metal detector in the emergency department and adding police details during night shifts, and during weekend and holiday shifts.
• Pay and benefits increases including: 2 percent across-the-board salary increases each year through 2025; and nurses who work at least 24 hours per-week will have 80 percent of their health insurance premium paid by Tenet, up from 65 percent in the previous contract.

Even with the new agreement in place, nurses at St. Vincent are facing a new labor challenge. On Dec. 20, replacement nurses hired during the strike filed a petition to decertify the MNA at the hospital. The anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc., is representing the replacement nurses in the matter.