Framingham Union Hospital Nurses to File for NLRB Election to Unionize with Mass Nurses Association Seeking Patient Care and Workplace Improvements

FUH nurses are filing a union election petition with the National Labor Relations Board as they stand together to improve conditions for patients, coworkers, and the community

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Sept. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Framingham Union Hospital (FUH) are filing notice with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Tuesday, September 12 seeking an election to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) as they exercise their strong, united voice to improve conditions for patients, nurses, and their colleagues.

The nurses held a press conference Tuesday to share their message with the media and community after attempting to meet with MetroWest Medical Center CEO John Whitlock, Jr., CPA, CGMA Tuesday morning. They delivered a letter requesting Whitlock voluntarily recognize the nurses' union, as allowed by the National Labor Relations Act. A supermajority of FUH nurses have signed union cards. They tried to receive recognition rather than an election to ensure precious hospital resources were put into patient care rather than union-busting consultants. Whitlock did not respond to this request.

"An overwhelming majority of Registered Nurses at Framingham Union Hospital have decided that we would like to have a real and independent voice on all decisions that affect us, the work we do and the patients we take care of," the nurses wrote in their letter to the CEO. "We would like to be real partners with you in setting priorities for our workplace and ensuring a healthy future for Framingham."

There are approximately 280 registered nurses at FUH who would be represented by the MNA following an election overseen by the NLRB. The NLRB will determine the timing and other details of the election. The main themes nurses have identified for why they are joining the MNA include:

• To improve nurses' ability to provide quality safe patient care.
• To promote a safe and healthy working environment.
• To revive and preserve a sense of pride, morale, and respect in their community hospital.
• To feel valued, treated with respect as a profession and satisfaction in their work.

The MNA is the largest union and professional organization of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts. It represents 25,000 members in healthcare facilities across the state, including nurses at more than 70 percent of the Commonwealth's acute care hospitals. The MNA is led by a board of directors that is directly elected by its membership and consists of front-line nurses and other healthcare professionals.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association