Tufts nurses launch one-day strike
Photo Courtesy MNA
Massachusetts Nurses Association members are pictured at the National Registered Nurses Day of Action in 2009.
The 1,200 registered nurses at Tufts Medical Center are on strike until 6:59 a.m. Thursday in what their union said is the largest nurses' strike in Massachusetts history and the first in Boston in over 30 years.
Rallies are planned outside the hospital at noon and 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which said nurses scheduled to work "plan to enter Tufts to care for their patients" on Thursday morning despite the hospital's plans to lock out striking nurses for four days.
The union said Tufts nurses are the lowest paid in Boston and are seeking wage increases, higher staffing levels and "pension protections/improvements that will make the hospital market competitive."
"The pay and retirement benefits at Tufts just aren't competitive," union co-chair Barbara Tiller said in a statement. "We know it, Tufts knows it, and the other hospitals in the city know it. As a result, we've become the nurse training ground for all the other facilities. New graduates come here, they get their experience, and they move on. This cycle won't stop until the hospital makes us competitive. And in the meantime, our patients suffer."
At a press conference Monday, hospital officials said they were prepared for a strike and would maintain normal operations, providing the same level of care for patients.
"The union believes it can hold Tufts Medical Center hostage for more money - money we don't have," hospital CEO Dr. Michael Wagner said, according to the hospital's Twitter feed.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement in a session with a federal mediator Tuesday. Tufts, in a statement, said it would have "more than 320 experienced nurses here to care for patients" and
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