Registered nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester announced today that a strike authorization vote has been scheduled for January 24th, following a year of negotiations in which the nursing staff and hospital management failed to agree on issues concerning low staffing levels and patient care.
The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have been in talks to negotiate their first contract with current hospital owner Vangaurd Health Systems. Vanguard replaced Tenet Healthcare, against which the nurses held a 49-day strike in 2000. The nurses claim that hospital management refuses to improve staffing levels at the facility, and voted yesterday to endorse the strike authorization vote.
The vote does not indicate that a strike would immediately take place. Instead, it gives the nurses’ negotiating committee the authorization to call a strike should they feel it necessary. If a strike is called for, the hospital would have 10 days before the nurses walked.
The two parties are scheduled to meet tomorrow. For more information on the history behind the negotiations, click the link: “Saint Vincent nurses fight for new contract“, WBJ, 12/25/06
