Thousands of nurses vote to authorize strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

The nurses are citing unsafe working conditions, long patient wait times, under-resourced departments, and unfair wages.

After months of negotiations, just over 2,500 nurses in the Massachusetts Nurses Association voted overwhelmingly to authorize a one-day strike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

According to a press release from the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the vote on Wednesday aims to pressure the hospital to recruit and retain enough nurses for safe patient care and quality working conditions.

Nurses are also asking for a competitive wage increase, additional security, and the ability to change insurance options during annual enrollment.

The release said the strike vote comes after 28 bargaining sessions over 10 months. The vote does not automatically mean a strike will occur, but it depends on negotiations. The union must provide a 10-day notice if they schedule a strike.

“It’s been deplorable conditions all throughout the hospital,” said Jen Devincent, a Brigham labor and delivery nurse for over 21 years.

Devincent notes that the emergency department and the OR need more equipment and are understaffed and overcapacity. Often, no beds are available for emergency patients, who frequently have to wait upwards of 17 hours to be seen.

“It’s crazy,” she said.

Due to the lack of space, there are often cancer or immunocompromised patients sitting in the hallways for hours, or even sometimes days, next to patients who have viruses, said Kerry Young, an emergency department nurse for 22 years.

“We don’t have the supplies, enough equipment, enough staff here with the patients,” Young said. “We are giving our patients substandard care, and this is Brigham.”

Brigham and Women’s Hospital is routinely nationally ranked by the U.S. News and World Report.

In an email to Boston.com, Mass General Brigham argues that the capacity crisis impacts every hospital across the state and that it’s already worked to address the issue, such as launching the “right care, right place” campaign to help patients go to the appropriate place for care and not the emergency room.

Another major push the nurses are fighting for is more security. Devincent said the security personnel are understaffed and undertrained, and their response times are deplorable.

Devincent says there is violence every day in the emergency room.

Nurses are getting “hit, kicked, spit on, and bitten,” she said.

Devicent said there should be no tolerance for violence against a health care worker of any kind, but there are simply not enough security workers stationed there.

The health system says it’s already reached a tentative agreement on workplace safety. The agreement includes “comprehensive language around workplace violence prevention strategies and assistance and support for those who experience it.”

Wages have been another “bone of contention” because Brigham reportedly pays less than other area hospitals, such as Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Tufts.

Being able to retain staff has been so difficult that the staff has lost 50 to 60 nurses within the last couple of years, Young said.

“It’s sad,” she said. “Years ago, every nurse there put on their jacket and went to work, and we were so happy and proud to call ourselves a Brigham nurse. Our people give top-notch care — that’s no longer the case.”

In response, the hospital says the turnover rates remain low, with the current vacancy rate a fraction of the national average. The hospital also argues that Brigham and Women’s Hospital already offers “very competitive” wages that position nurses “among the highest paid in the state for academic medical centers.”

Young says she recently brought a family member to the hospital for care and afterward thought, “Never again.”

“I love my job. I love being a nurse. I love taking care of patients,” she said. “It’s demoralizing to go home each and every shift and feel terrible about myself because I know I wasn’t able to provide the right level of care for patients.”

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital nurses in Jamaica Plain will vote Thursday on a one-day strike.

The next bargaining meeting is set for Aug. 8.

According to the release, Brigham and Women’s Hospital made $108.7 million in profits in fiscal year 2023. Mass General Brigham made $81.6 million in earnings in the first quarter of 2024.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nursing Association is the state’s largest union of registered nurses, with 25,000 members.

Devincent and Young say they would rather care for their patients than be on the sidewalk.

“Someone had asked us yesterday what we would say to our patients about this — we’re sorry,” Devincent said. “We don’t want to be doing this. Management has put us in a tricky situation. We’ve been asking and asking to be heard, and it’s falling on deaf ears. This is the only way to get them to listen.”