Mass General Brigham Nurses Vote to Strike at South Shore Endoscopy Center in Braintree as Highly Profitable MGB Rejects Nurses' Efforts to Secure a Fair Contract to Help Them Provide High-Quality Gastrointestinal Care

Mass General Brigham, the largest hospital corporation in New England, has undervalued and disrespected South Shore Endoscopy Center nurses, who provide excellent gastrointestinal patient care in Braintree

BRAINTREE, Mass., Nov. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Brigham and Women's Harbor Medical Associates South Shore Endoscopy (SSEC), represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted on Wednesday, November 1 to authorize a one-day strike because Mass General Brigham executives have refused to agree to a fair contract that would provide competitive pay, reasonable time off, and daily overtime, enabling nurses to continue providing the high-quality gastrointestinal care patients deserve.

"We have negotiated in good faith and made reasonable compromises to reach a fair agreement that would ensure South Shore Endoscopy Center has a strong nurse workforce for our patients," said SSEC RN Christine Smith, a member of the nurses' MNA Bargaining Committee. "Mass General Brigham has repeatedly rejected our efforts and has forced us into a position to take a strike vote.

"If we go on strike, it will be MGB executives who are disrupting patient care access and our community through their stubbornness and greed," Smith said. "MGB makes enormous profits and pays its executives millions of dollars but refuses to compromise with nurses who provide exceptional care day in and day out."

The strike vote gives the nurses on the SSEC Bargaining Committee authorization to hold a one-day strike if necessary. A strike date has not been selected. If scheduled, that date will be announced to the public once the hospital has been given the 10-day notice required by law. SSEC nurses would then plan to hold a 24-hour strike unless MGB agreed to a fair contract by that date.

The 16 SSEC nurses play a key role in providing patients safe, high-quality gastrointestinal (GI) procedures that do not require hospitalization. Thanks to the hard work and skill of the nurses and other team members, SSEC is known as an exceptional endoscopy practice. The nurses won a union election on September 27, 2022 and are seeking a fair contract to ensure ongoing investment in their ability to provide this excellent care.

Bargaining Highlights

• MGB is proposing annual wage increases that are not competitive in today's healthcare market and considerably lower than what nurses can receive at other MGB facilities.
• MGB has a time off system at SSEC that is worse than other similar healthcare facilities and a source of dissatisfaction. Nurses are forced to use their limited time off to pay for holidays they cannot work because SSEC is closed.
• MGB is refusing to provide daily overtime pay – a widespread standard at other healthcare facilities in the area, including MGB-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

MGB Finances and Executive Pay

• SSEC is owned by Mass General Brigham, the largest private employer in Massachusetts and one of the largest hospital system-based research enterprises in the U.S., with an annual research budget of $2 billion.
• Overall, MGB generated $16.7 billion in revenue in 2022 and has historically made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits annually.
• During the FY2023 period ending March 31, 2023, MGB earned $841 million more than expenses, according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis.
• From 2020 to 2021, the pay of MGB CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski jumped 25%, going from $4,286,146 to $5,377,699, according to the Boston Globe.

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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