St. Vincent Nurse To Restart Negotiations On Wednesday

WORCESTER, MA — St. Vincent Hospital nurses and management met Monday night to negotiate before an upcoming strike deadline, but the two sides did not come to an agreement over a key issue.

The nurses are seeking higher staffing levels across key departments like the ER, maternity ward and critical care, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). St. Vincent leaders came to the table Monday with a plan to boost staffing in two telemetry units, where patients are under electronic monitoring.

"[T]heir proposal made no changes to the staffing levels sought by the nurses on 10 other units where the majority of patients are cared for," the MNA said in a statement Monday. "The proposal also failed to include any increases in support staff, such as secretaries and patient care assistants on the units, as well as patient care observers to watch over patients at high risk for a fall so that nurses can focus on providing care to acutely ill patients."

The hospital, owned by the for-profit Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., says it has been locked in negotiations with nurses for 17 months, and has offered raises and increased benefits. Management has also said staffing levels are "comparable to or better than those at peer hospitals."

The St. Vincent nurses voted to authorize union negotiators to strike on Feb. 11. Dissatisfied with negotiations, the nurses delivered a 10-day strike notice on Feb. 24.

The need for increased staffing has been highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic, the nurses say. The hospital's staff has been pushed to the limit across the two waves of the pandemic, and increased staffing is the only way to keep patients safe and nurses and doctors from burning out, they say.

The MNA represents about 800 nurses at St. Vincent. They could walk off the job on March 8 at 6 a.m. if the two sides do not agree on a staffing compromise. The two sides will go back to the negotiating table on Wednesday beginning at 9:30 a.m.