The nurses’ strike at Saint Vincent Hospital reached 200 days on Thursday. It’s the latest milestone of a work stoppage that officially began on March 8 with nurses bundled up in frigid temperatures. Summer has come and gone and the work stoppage has become the longest nurses’ strike in the history of the state.
The grievances go back to 2020, though, and have evolved since.
The fissure between Tenet Healthcare, the Dallas-based parent company of Saint Vincent Hospital, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association began over staffing. Even though each side agrees on nearly every item of a new agreement, a back-to-work provision is preventing a resolution.
Here’s a complete timeline of why the nurses began the work stoppage and the key moments during the 6-and-a-half month-long strike.
February 2020: More than 70% of nurses at the hospital signed a petition calling for safer staffing levels.
March 2020: More than 200 nurses attended a negotiation session with management to provide information about the staffing levels.
April 2020: Saint Vincent Hospital implements furloughs as part of a reduction plan as the COVID-19 pandemic was still in its infancy in Central Massachusetts.
May 2020: Nurses at the hospital take a vote of no confidence in CEO Carolyn Jackson.
December of 2020: As the pandemic approaches 2021 with the hope of vaccines, more than 400 nurses participated in an information picket to protest the staffing at the hospital. A month late, nurses picketed outside the hospital as part of an informational demonstration.
Feb. 23: The nurses at the hospital delivered a 10-day notice of their intention to strike beginning at 6 a.m. on March 8.
March 3: A second meeting between the two sides fails to gain any momentum on a resolution setting the scene for a strike five days later.
Nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital began picketing Monday as they began a strike at 6 a.m.
March 8: About 800 nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital begin an open-ended strike, specifically citing staffing shortages.
March 12: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and former Congressman Joe Kennedy III join the picket line with the nurses for the first time since the strike began.
March 24: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey joins the nurses in support outside of Saint Vincent Hospital.
April 9: U.S. Reps Ayanna Pressley, Jim McGovern and Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Joe Courtney of Connecticut secure COBRA Subsidies for Striking Workers Under American Rescue Plan.
April 26: The two sides meet for the first time since the strike began on March 8. The meeting ends without any progress toward a resolution.
April 27: U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan visits the strike line in support of the nurses.
May 1: Tenet and the MNA meet for the second time amid the strike. The discussion was called for by a federal mediator. Tenet provided a presentation to the nurses, which set up a counterproposal.
May 5: The MNA presents a comprehensive proposal to address the staff concerns its members have. The union said “some movement” was achieved but do not provide specifics to allow the “negotiating process to continue without unnecessary rancor” at a “critical juncture.” The strike is just two months in, with at least 140 more days ahead.
May 7: A federal mediator tells the MNA that Tenet refused its latest offer and will not resume negotiations.
May 12: Tenet Healthcare announces that it posted permanent replacement nurse positions to fill 102 vacancies. The postings include emergency department, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, same-day medical and same-day surgery positions. More than 30 elected officials, from Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty all the way up to the federal government and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, sent a letter to Tenet blasting the decision.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern addressed the group.
May 15: U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern and Lori Trahan return to the strike line in support of the nurses.
June 14: The strike reaches 100 days.
June 27: Tenet returns to the negotiating table and provides an offer to the nurses, the first since May 5. After speaking with its members, the MNA prepares for a counter-proposal.
June 29: After referring to Tenet’s offer as “not a serious proposal,” the MNA sends another proposal to Saint Vincent Hospital. In addition, Warren, Markey, McGovern and Trahan sent a letter to Tenet asking how they used $850 million in stimulus funding.
July 7: Tenet delivers its latest offer to the nurses as the MNA boards a bus headed to the airport where the union plans to travel to Dallas to deliver a 16-foot petition to management.
July 9: The two sides meet in Worcester for the first time in person in 15 months. Previously COVID restricted in-person negotiations.
July 22 and 23: A federal mediator schedules two days of negotiations. The two sides are expected to discuss proposals for at least seven hours each day. The parties agree to continue the process at a later date to be set by the federal mediator.
July 28: Saint Vincent Hospital announces that it will scale back both inpatient and outpatient capacity in several areas beginning on Aug. 2 because of the ongoing nurse’s strike.
July 31: Organizers hold a solidarity rally to support the nurses in Worcester.
Aug. 2 and 3: A federal mediator schedules another round of seven-hour negotiations.
Aug. 5: More than 150 days into the strike, Saint Vincent Hospital presents to the MNA what it calls its “last, best, and final offer.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she stands with the nurses.
Aug. 6: Warren, Markey, McGovern and Trahan sign a letter urging Tenet to seek assistance offered by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to resolve the work stoppage.
Aug. 8: Saint Vincent Hospital has hired 100 permanent nurses to replace roles vacated by nurses.
Aug. 16-19: The two sides hold four days of secret negotiations and resolve the issue of staffing that originally sparked the strike. However, a back-to-work provision, guaranteeing the nurses would return to their previous positions extends the work stoppage.
Aug. 31: The work stoppage becomes the longest in the history of nurses’ strikes in Massachusetts.
Sept. 2: Tenet Healthcare requests reconsideration of unemployment benefits to its striking nurses, which suspended benefits as the state Department of Unemployment Assistance makes a decision.
Sept. 9: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meets with several striking nurses to express her support.
Sept. 17: Eric Dickson, the CEO of UMass Memorial Health, the other hospital in the city, pleads with Tenet and the MNA to resolve the strike as ICU beds reach capacity in Worcester due to COVID.
Sept. 22: Dr. Bogdan Nedelescu, the president of Saint Vincent Hospital medical staff, sent a letter on behalf of the Worcester hospital’s medical staff for the sides to come to a deal.
Sept. 23: The strike reaches 200 days.
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