Registered nurses at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Plymouth say they will vote on March 20 on whether to authorize a three-day strike after months of contract negotiations.
In a Massachusetts Nurses Association news release, nurses at the hospital raised alarm about patient safety and outcomes as a result of new hospital staffing plans. According to the release, hospital leaders cut back on the number of registered nurses per shift and started requiring them to work overtime shifts, exhausting existing staff. Emergency room nurses have reported being assigned up to nine patients at a time, including ICU-level patients awaiting transfer, the release said.
The hospital’s chief nursing officer, Donna Doherty, said hospital leaders “are confident in both the quality of the clinical care our teams provide and in our continued investment in community health,” and during negotiations, have proposed wages that are among the “highest in the region.”
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“We continue to provide outstanding care to our community, and we thank our nurses for their extraordinary contribution to that care,” said Doherty, who is also a registered nurse and senior vice president of patient care services. She added that the hospital as taken steps to ensure appropriate staffing, including “additional incentive compensation.”
“We are eager to reach resolution with the MNA that will both benefit our existing nurses and support recruiting efforts amid a national shortage of healthcare workers,” Doherty added.
The 420 registered nurses at the Plymouth hospital also plan to conduct an “informational picket” outside the Plymouth Public Library on March 20. The picket is not a strike, the release said, and nurses will only attend if they are not scheduled to work or are on break.
“Our hospital has implemented staffing plans that compromise our ability to provide the care we so desperately want and need to provide this community,” said Liz Taylor, a registered nurse at the hospital and cochair of the nurses’ local bargaining unit. “We simply don’t have the staff or the time we need to monitor and care for the patients the way we know they need to be cared for under current conditions.”
If the strike authorization vote passes, it will allow the nurses’ bargaining committee to schedule a three-day strike if they feel it is needed, according to the release. If the union decides to call for a strike, it is required to give the hospital 10 days’ notice.
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The nurses said they have been in contract negotiations with hospital management since Oct. 3, and the nurses’ current contract’s expiration date was extended to March 31 from Dec. 31, 2024.
Maren Halpin can be reached at maren.halpin@globe.com.