Latest offer a significant step towards reaching agreement to end strike

Worcester, MA – July 6, 2021 – Saint Vincent Hospital, in its continued serious effort to resolving the ongoing strike by the MNA, today presented its latest offer to the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) through the federal mediator. This offer, the fourth by the hospital in recent weeks, specifically accepts enhanced nurse staffing proposals by the MNA on four units and provides meaningful compromises on seven additional units. Today’s proposal also represents agreement with the MNA on key workplace safety measures and shift differentials, while maintaining the generous wage and benefits improvements in the hospital’s most recent proposal.

The hospital had requested to meet in person on Monday, July 5; Tuesday, July 6; or Wednesday July 7; but the MNA rejected all of those times in order to allow some members of their bargaining committee to travel to Dallas, TX to participate in theatrics there tomorrow. Their misguided actions once again miss the critical point that this is a local issue -- this is a community hospital in Worcester, and all people necessary to bring this strike to a close with a fair deal are here at Saint Vincent Hospital. Since the MNA refuses to prioritize an important in-person bargaining session now, in order to keep negotiations moving forward, the hospital had no choice but to deliver this latest proposal once again through the mediator.

As has been the case throughout the strike, the Saint Vincent team remains hard at work caring for patients and trying to settle the strike. Meanwhile, MNA leadership has held one social event after another and attempted to damage the hospital’s reputation by perpetuating falsehoods about Saint Vincent’s quality and safety.

The last proposal we made on Friday, June 25, was dismissed by the MNA through a press release rather than any attempt to engage with the hospital in any dialog. Saint Vincent Hospital hopes that this current counterproposal issued today will be taken seriously, given a chance for substantive discussion among both sides, with a commitment to finding an equitable solution to end this strike.

Saint Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson and the hospital worked diligently over the last week, including the holiday weekend, to finalize the most recent proposal.

Jackson commented, “This is a comprehensive, good-faith effort to address the MNA’s counterproposal. The MNA should be pleased with the movement we have made. It’s regrettable that while we’re devoting our full attention to contract talks, some members of the bargaining committee are focused not on meeting immediately but rather on travelling to Dallas for a publicity event. We remain ready to discuss the proposal in person this week and invite those members of the bargaining committee who are not traveling to Dallas and want to make progress towards a new contract to engage in dialog with us.”

Unlike how the MNA has handled the hospital’s previous three proposals, Saint Vincent Hospital sincerely hopes the MNA bargaining committee will carefully review this one and seriously engage in the bargaining process, with the sincere intention of bringing this to a close. “The MNA membership deserves a chance to vote on a proposal that would bring them back to work,” Jackson said.