![\"Katie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMJLXVCPF7EMLSXV3ZYJDSKH4Q.jpg\")
Katie Connors, a nurse at Boston Medical Center, joined picketers outside the hospital Wednesday.Craig F. Walker\/Globe Staff<\/p>\nThousands of Boston Medical Center nurses and hospital staff picketed Wednesday at BMC\u2019s Boston and Brockton campuses. <\/p>\n
Nurses said they are asking for a new union contract that increase wages, affordable health insurance, time-off benefits, and safety protections for nurses. <\/p>\n
Their previous contract expired on May 15, and their union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, negotiated an extension until June 29th. But nurses said they couldn\u2019t extend any further after getting \u201cunserious proposals\u201d from BMC. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get greater nurses, and we want to keep great nurses,\u201d said Catherine Stokes, a nurse at BMC for about seven years. She said she hopes this stand gets them a step closer to compromise before they may resort to striking. <\/p>\n
She said BMC nurses feel neglected as their counterparts across the state earn much higher wages while BMC serves one of the busiest emergency rooms and immigrant communities in Boston. (As a safety-net hospital, BMC must treat everyone, regardless of immigration or insurance status.)<\/p>\n
BMC officials said in a statement they valued nurses and remained committed to reaching an agreement \u201cthat provides competitive wages while supporting the long-term sustainability of the hospital and our ability to care for the community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Katie Connors, a nurse at Boston Medical Center, joined picketers outside the hospital Wednesday.Craig F. Walker\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n
Nurses at the demonstration said they worried about staff leaving. <\/p>\n
Tamara Fran\u00e7ois said she started as a BMC nurse two years ago on a contract, but she\u2019s looking to work elsewhere if things don\u2019t change soon at the hospital. Along with low wages, she said, \u201cworkplace violence is at an all time high,\u201d with not always enough nurses on duty for the number of patients. <\/p>\n
She said fights break out between patients, and staff have been assaulted including an incident in which a security officer was stabbed<\/a> at the hospital. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is why our turnover rates are so high because there\u2019s literally no incentive to work at this hospital,\u201d Fran\u00e7ois said. <\/p>\n The labor issues come as the state\u2019s biggest safety-net hospital grapples with recent operating losses, rising health care costs, and looming cuts next year to Medicaid, the government insurer for low-income and disabled people.<\/p>\n In May, Boston Medical Center reported operating losses of $41.7 million<\/a> for the first six months of its fiscal year, worse than the $30.4 million in losses for the same period the year before. <\/p>\n Experts predict new Medicaid work requirements and other changes will have an outsized impact on safety-net hospitals<\/a> like BMC, where roughly 40 percent of patients are on Medicaid. <\/p>\n BMC\u2019s financial troubles this fiscal year were largely due to its takeover of two hospitals formerly owned by the bankrupt for-profit company Steward Health Care: the former St. Elizabeth\u2019s Medical Center in Brighton, and the former Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. <\/p>\n The state earmarked about $387 million over three years to help BMC acquire and upgrade the hospitals, now called BMC Brighton and BMC South. But BMC has struggled<\/a> amid the costs of urgent work needed to address the hospitals\u2019 prior neglect, deferred maintenance, and interrupted patient referrals, the Globe has previously reported. <\/p>\n![\"Beth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2QQ3LM2JN5JSAJRP2FEQ2V3K6E.jpg\")
Beth Kane, a nurse at Boston Medical Center, joined picketers outside the hospital Wednesday with a nod to the Scottish World Cup fans’ playfulness around traffic cones.Craig F. Walker\/Globe Staff![\"Nurses](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/OHVXHYPTV7DWPJ5UI23LY4CTF4.jpg\")
Nurses and supporters demonstrated outside Boston Medical Center on Wednesday.Craig F. Walker\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SHLLJNSWRZKCUTFX5VTYZB5XXY.jpg\")
A woman named Malichi raised her fist in support of nurses at Boston Medical Center as they picketed Wednesday.Craig F. Walker\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n