Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston returned to work on Monday morning, five days after they went out on strike.
All of the nurses walked in together at 7 a.m., but it’s bittersweet for many of them.
On the one hand, they were able to garner attention both at the local and state level. But on the other, they’re returning to work without a new deal that would give them more money, better benefits and promises to improve working conditions.
“Today we walked back into the Brigham together with our heads held high because we never stopped fighting for our patients,” said Kelly Morgan, chair of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital MNA Bargaining Committee. “This strike and lockout became far bigger than any one hospital. Tens of millions of people around the world watched our fight on television and social media. We are deeply grateful to every nurse, healthcare worker, elected official, patient, labor union, and community member who stood beside us. Your support carried us through one of the most intense moments in Massachusetts nursing history.”
Wednesday, July 8 is when the nurses first walked off the job — 4,000 of them in total.
The hospital hired about 1,300 temporary nurses to fill the void and locked the full-time nurses out through Monday morning.
The hospital said nothing was affected and operations remained the same. The nurses union said otherwise.
The two sides are still seemingly far away from reaching a deal. After more than 20 failed negotiation attempts, right now there is not another negotiation day set.
Approximately 450 Mass General Brigham Home Care clinicians remain on strike through Tuesday as they continue fighting for their first union contract. A rally is scheduled on Tuesday afternoon outside Mass General Brigham headquarters at Assembly Row in Somerville.