Saint Vincent nurses vote to stay with MNA union
Photo | Grant Welker
Saint Vincent Hospital nurses went on strike from 2021-2022 for better patient staffing ratios.
On Monday afternoon, nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester voted 302 to 133 against a decertification effort of their membership in the Massachusetts Nurses Association union.
The in-favor vote means nurses will remain unionized and represented by MNA, according to the announcement from the union. The MNA represented the nurses throughout the nearly 10-month strike and contract negotiations with Saint Vincent Hospital and its Texas-based parent Tenet Healthcare Corp.
Days after the union and hospital reached a tentative agreement to end the strike in mid-December, a group of nurses launched an effort to decertify the MNA. The effort was led by Richard Avola, who was hired during the strike as a permanent replacement nurse, and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit focused on eliminating union power.
Striking nurses voted to ratify the contract, which included staffing improvements and allowed all striking nurses to return to their previous positions, on Jan. 3.
A month later, nurses received ballots to vote on the decertification of the Massachusetts Nurses Association and the union. The National Labor Relations Board finished the final vote tally Monday afternoon.
Saint Vincent Hospital said in a statement it will respect the decision.
As nurses have returned to work since the strike ended, Saint Vincent has reopened dozens of beds which closed due to staffing shortages during the strike.
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