MGB Home Care Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Vote to Join MNA as they Seek an Independent Voice to Improve Safety for Patients and Staff

MGB Home Care clinicians plan to use their collective strength as union members to secure professional respect and ensure safe patient care conditions

BOSTON, July 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mass General Brigham (MGB) Home Care nurses and healthcare professionals have exercised their right to unionize, joining the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) with a successful election on Friday, June 28. Their overwhelmingly yes vote enables MGB Home Care nurses and healthcare professionals to work together to improve patient care conditions and advocate for the professional respect they deserve.

"I'm really excited to move forward and begin the process of formally building this union, as well as bargaining with our employer to get a contract in place that allows us to provide the best care we can for our patients while respecting our personal and professional needs," said Karen Estey, a speech language pathologist at MGB Home Care. "This election result is a great step forward for us and I'm really proud to be part of this process."

"I feel really good about the large percentage of clinicians having voted in favor of the union. There is always power in numbers!" said Regula Kissling, a physical therapist at MGB Home Care. "The union will give us a strong voice and allows us to much more easily and effectively collaborate with management on issues important to us. I know this will ultimately enhance efficiency at work, patient satisfaction, staff retention, and work-life balance."

"Winning this election with such strong support is an indication that we are long overdue for representation with management," said Shannon Viera, Clinical Coach North Teams with MGB Home Care. "Home care is often overlooked and under-appreciated, but we know the future of healthcare is moving into the home setting and home care clinicians are going to be in higher demand than ever before. It is time for us to work with MGB leadership to create an environment that is an attractive workplace for clinicians, provides improved work-life balance and superior patient experiences. MGB hospitals are considered leaders in the country, and it is time for Home Care to have the opportunity to set national trends instead of following them."

"Winning this election is a pivotal moment for the clinicians of MGB Home Care. We are now in a position to use our collective voice to work with leadership to make decisions regarding improved patient care, safety, and better working conditions for clinicians," said Kara Wilson, OTR at MGB Home Care. "Providing optimal care for our patients requires front line clinicians to have a sustainable work-life balance and this aspect of our work has been missing for far too long."

In recent years, there has been unprecedented interest in nurses and healthcare professionals seeking union representation as a means of protecting their patients and themselves by having a voice, the ability to advocate for better working conditions, and compensation and benefits that allow for the recruitment and retention of staff. Nurses and healthcare professionals are joining together to counter oppressive management practices that have created a shortage of professionals willing to work in an increasingly corporate healthcare environment.

• Approximately 80 MGB Home Hospital nurses voted to join the MNA in May 2024, the same day that a group of Newton-Wellesley Hospital ambulatory care nurses won their vote to join the MNA.
• Martha's Vineyard Hospital ambulatory care nurses are completing a mail-in election with a vote count expected July 2.
• 280 nurses at Framingham Union Hospital voted to join the MNA in January 2024.
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Merrimack Valley nurses ratified their first MNA contract in January 2024.
• 16 nurses at South Shore Endoscopy Center (MGB) ratified their first contract in December 2023.
• Berkshire VNA nurses and healthcare professionals ratified their first MNA contract in December 2023.
• Milford Regional Medical Center nurses ratified their first MNA contract in November 2022.
• St. Luke's Hospital nurses ratified their first MNA contract in February 2022.

There are 436 MGB Home Care nurses and healthcare professionals joining the MNA following the election. They provide a wide range of care, from nursing and occupational health to physical therapy and speech language pathology. MGB Home Care clinicians provide care for patients throughout Eastern Massachusetts. They participated in a mail-in election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The vote count by NLRB officials on June 28 was 295 yes to join the union to 79 no, with zero challenged ballots.

Following the NLRB election, nurses and healthcare professionals will vote for their elected leaders and bargaining committee and begin determining proposals for first contract negotiations. In a letter requesting voluntary recognition of their union delivered to MGB in May, the nurses and healthcare professionals included a series of reasons for unionizing:

• We want to feel valued and respected as Home Care clinicians. This includes being paid for all work, receiving better benefits, and benefiting from transparent and real communication.
• The safety of our patients and staff is too often at risk. We are seeking protections that safeguard patients and ensure staff can safely perform our work.
• When we are exhausted and assigned work past our capacity, patients and our entire organization suffer. We are seeking work-life balance, especially considering that patient care does not stop at hands-on care.
• We are experts in patient care and have insights that can help elevate care quality and ensure proper continuity of care.
• When our workload is unfair or uneven, clinicians are demoralized and are less likely to stay at Home Care. We are seeking equity in this area, along with consistency across teams.
• We have a right to dignity and for the Home Care administration to respect diversity.

The MNA is the largest union and professional organization of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts. It represents more than 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