Nurses at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital vote to authorize one-day strike
BOSTON - Nurses at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital have voted overwhelmingly to go on a one-day strike. The vote comes one day after nurses at the hospital's main campus also voted to authorize a strike.
The nurses make no bones about it, they want better salaries. They tell WBZ retention and morale have gone down the drain.
"They call us the Brigham and Women's family, they don't treat us as a family yet. You know, we are still the Faulkner," said nurse Dan Rec.
Rec has been a nurse at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital for more than 30 years. On Thursday night, he voted in favor of a one-day strike. Ninety nine percent of nurses there did. The vote was 341 yes to 1 no for the potential one-day strike
"Right now, we are not even close for a salary in Brigham and our retention rate is not that great," Rec said.
Nurses looking for parity
Nurses say their contract with Faulkner ran out in September and after 11 sessions, bargaining is at a standstill. Nurses are looking for parity with other hospitals in the Brigham and Women's system. The difference they say is leading to high turnover and it's impacting care.
"We can't give great care to patients when we are running short, running in between, running from one patient to another patient," said nurse Lisa Bastianelli.
"We've always kind of had a saying at the friendly Faulkner, we are functionally dysfunctional. We make it work every day," nurse Janet Donovan said.
Hospital officials say they have been negotiating with the Massachusetts Nurses Association since October.
"Progress has been made on several topics and we have presented a fair, equitable proposal," a spokesperson for Brigham and Women's Hospital said. "Our focus remains on supporting our nurses while providing high-quality, safe care for our patients. If a strike takes place, we are positioned to continue to provide the care our patients expect."
10-day notice for strike
On Wednesday, nurses at the Brigham's main campus voted for a one-day strike themselves.
"We want to give the best care to our patients," Bastianelli said.
"Everyone says let's see what happens with this contract Dan, if it doesn't, I am out of here," Rec said.
There is no set date for either of the two one-day strikes. Each union has to give a ten-day notice, and each has bargaining sessions scheduled within that timeframe.