The union representing 800 striking nurses at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester said it is prepared to return to the bargaining table next week in the hope of resolving a contract dispute that has led to one of the longest nurses’ strikes in recent history.
Meanwhile, the walkout will continue into its eighth week, its duration exceeding the 49-day strike that the same union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, held against Saint Vincent’s in 2000.
The Worcester dispute has cast a spotlight on the frustrations of an exhausted nursing workforce. Labor experts say it heralds other union conflicts likely to arise amid a pandemic that has burdened health care workers as never before.
“Nurses have been really pushed to the limit. That’s a national trend,” said Tom Juravich, a professor in the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a union consultant. “There have been more organizing drives, more conflictual collective bargaining agreements.”
But the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s strike, which started March 8, stands out for its length. Nurses’ strikes tend to last a few days at most. The last long strike in Massachusetts lasted 103 days at Brockton Hospital in 2001, and prolonged nurses strikes have been uncommon elsewhere in the country as well.
“We are hopeful that Tenet is ready to engage in a good faith effort to discuss and address the nurses’ patient safety concerns that have precipitated this strike,” union spokesman David Schildmeier said Thursday afternoon in an e-mail, referring to Tenet Health, the chain that owns Saint Vincent’s.
His comments came a few hours after Saint Vincent’s issued a press release saying that the union had not responded to three offers to resume negotiations over the past two weeks. Asked for comment Thursday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said the hospital still hadn’t heard from the union.
Schildmeier said union representatives will meet with the mediator Friday morning and “will definitely be offering to go back to the table Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.”
The top issue for the local is staffing levels, with the union asserting that nurses often have too many patients to care for safely.
The hospital has defended its levels and accused the union of pursuing a statewide agenda to push for mandated nurse-to-patient ratios — a proposal that voters overwhelmingly rejected in a 2018 referendum.
Carolyn Jackson, Saint Vincent’s president, said the union made unreasonable demands and turned its back on a generous offer.
“We have the utmost respect for what our nurses did during COVID,” Jackson said. “That is why we put together what we thought is a very solid package of financial rewards.”
Other hospitals are likely to face similar conflicts, said Monica Carney, an economics professor at College of the Holy Cross, who specializes in health care and labor.
The challenge of caring for COVID-19 patients has made inadequacies in nurse-to-patient ratios especially apparent, Carney said.
“That’s probably why this is becoming an issue at this time,” she said.
“What the pandemic has done,” said Charles Idelson, spokesman for the National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nurses union, “is make all the patient care conditions in the hospital even more of a concern.”
The national group’s members are cheering the Worcester nurses’ tenacity, even though the Massachusetts union is not a member, according to Idelson. “They have been an inspiration to our members,” he said.
Schildmeier said the Saint Vincent’s strike is “being watched by every hospital, not only in Massachusetts but across the country. The entire industry is watching this strike.”
In Worcester, each side has had the resources and motivation to dig in.
Tenet Health, a Dallas-based for-profit chain, reported $97 million in profits in the first quarter of this year. Tenet appears able and willing to pour money into hiring replacement nurses and security.
Jackson acknowledged that the strike has been expensive, but did not have a figure for how much it costs. “It’s not where we want to spend our dollars,” she said. “I would like to spend it on our nurses.”
Also, Tenet has to worry about bargaining at its other unionized hospitals.
“If they give in in this particular market,” said Carney, the Holy Cross professor, “it could weaken their front at other hospitals.”
Meanwhile, Jackson said it’s “business as usual” at Saint Vincent’s. Elective surgeries and other procedures are continuing at volumes in line with a post-COVID recovery plan adopted long before the strike, she said, adding that “emergency room volume has increased to levels we haven’t seen in a while.”
The nurses also have the wherewithal to hold their ground.
They recently learned that the federal pandemic recovery plan will cover their health insurance, and they have reason to hope they will receive unemployment benefits, retroactively. Also the union has a strike fund of more than $300,000 to which any nurse may apply for help with needs such as mortgage or car payments. The fund received $50,000 from the California Nurses Association and $50,000 from National Nurses United, and every donation is matched by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, Schildmeier said.
Additionally, striking nurses can find other work, and many have. Schildmeier said many are working at COVID-19 vaccination clinics or picking up per-diem work at other hospitals.
He said that 117 union nurses did not join the strike and about 10 more have returned to work since it started. But about 700 are still staying out. “The picket line is busy every day,” Schildmeier said.
Nurses also have a powerful advantage in the court of public opinion. Nursing is one of the most trusted and admired professions. Nurses’ dedication at the height of the pandemic cast them as “heroes” in the fight against COVID-19. Politicians have stopped by to pledge their support. Worcester Interfaith, a coalition of 21 faith-based organizations, has held two candlelight vigils for them.
“The public at this point is in support of the nurses,” Carney said. “In the long run, that could become a problem for Tenet.”
Jackson, however, said the hospital does have its supporters — physicians, local businesses, “all other hospital CEOs in the state,” and the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, the hospitals’ trade group.
The association declined to answer the Globe’s questions, instead e-mailing a three-paragraph statement that said it was “deeply concerned” about the “misguided” strike and calling for “collaboration.”
“The strike comes at a point when our commonwealth is still grappling with the worst public health crisis of our lifetime,” the statement said. “We feel it is irresponsible to leave the bedside while over 700 Massachusetts residents remain hospitalized with COVID-19.”
But Schildmeier noted, “No one’s holding a rally for Tenet. From every angle we’re just seeing the nurses get support, which makes the nurses feel this is worth fighting for.”
For Sheila Hannen, a labor and delivery nurse, it’s the second such fight in her 42 years at Saint Vincent’s. Hannen participated in the 2000 strike, and now, a few months before her planned retirement when she turns 65 in August, she’s found herself back on the picket line — this time joined by her four daughters, who all decided to become nurses at Saint Vincent’s.
“We all just saw that she loved her job and wanted to follow in her footsteps,” said Kelly Hannen, 36. As for the strike, she said, “It’s not easy but we all are just staying together. We know we’re in this for the right reason.”
Felice J. Freyer can be reached at felice.freyer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @felicejfreyer.
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As nurses’ strike heads toward its eighth week, is there an end in sight? - The Boston Globe
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