Brigham nurses are back out on the picket line as they remain locked out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital amid a one-day strike.The nurses have been picketing every day and said it will stay that way until they’re allowed to go back to work on Monday morning.Representatives from Mass General Brigham sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Massachusetts Nurses Association and sent neighbors apology letters over the constant noise.”We respect the union’s right to picket. Our concern is not the picketing itself, but conduct that interferes with patient care access to the hospital, our regular medical equipment deliveries, and the environment our patients need to heal,” an MGB spokesperson said in a news release.Nurses on the picket line said they will not be deterred.”They’ll tone it down at 10 o’clock at night,” said Kerry, one of the picketers. “People have been doing that, and they don’t start at an unreasonable time in the morning. I’m sorry. The hospital played a stupid game and they got a stupid prize.”This week, more than 4,000 nurses walked off the job for one day over wages, working conditions, and other benefits. MGB said the nurses can’t come back until Monday because they have to fulfill contracts from travel nurses.Neil Boyarsky’s wife is being treated for cancer and he worries the nurses he trusts are not by her side.”I feel like they’ve kept my wife alive, that and the incredible doctors here,” he said. “This is something that I think that management needs to figure out how to settle quickly.”MGB maintains that despite the strike, patients are still receiving high-quality care from the replacement nurses.Hospital representatives said they have attended more than 20 negotiating sessions and that nurses already get a 5% raise every year for 20 years.Nurses on the picket line said that this is a fight for people over profits.
BOSTON —
Brigham nurses are back out on the picket line as they remain locked out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital amid a one-day strike.
The nurses have been picketing every day and said it will stay that way until they’re allowed to go back to work on Monday morning.
Representatives from Mass General Brigham sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Massachusetts Nurses Association and sent neighbors apology letters over the constant noise.
“We respect the union’s right to picket. Our concern is not the picketing itself, but conduct that interferes with patient care access to the hospital, our regular medical equipment deliveries, and the environment our patients need to heal,” an MGB spokesperson said in a news release.
Nurses on the picket line said they will not be deterred.
“They’ll tone it [the noise] down at 10 o’clock at night,” said Kerry, one of the picketers. “People have been doing that, and they don’t start at an unreasonable time in the morning. I’m sorry. The hospital played a stupid game and they got a stupid prize.”
This week, more than 4,000 nurses walked off the job for one day over wages, working conditions, and other benefits.
MGB said the nurses can’t come back until Monday because they have to fulfill contracts from travel nurses.
Neil Boyarsky’s wife is being treated for cancer and he worries the nurses he trusts are not by her side.
“I feel like they’ve kept my wife alive, that and the incredible doctors here,” he said. “This is something that I think that management needs to figure out how to settle quickly.”
MGB maintains that despite the strike, patients are still receiving high-quality care from the replacement nurses.
Hospital representatives said they have attended more than 20 negotiating sessions and that nurses already get a 5% raise every year for 20 years.
Nurses on the picket line said that this is a fight for people over profits.