MNA: Dana-Farber Foxborough Nurses to Hold Informational Picket Outside Gillette Stadium Before November 13 Patriots-Jets Game

DFCI Foxborough nurses demand competitive pay to ensure quality patient care, saying they simply want to "level the playing field"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nurses at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) Foxborough facility will hold an informational picket on Thursday, November 13, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. outside Patriot Place in the lead up to the 8:15 p.m. Patriots vs. Jets game at Gillette Stadium. The nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), are calling on DFCI management to address an "unacceptable" pay disparity between Foxborough nurses and their counterparts who work for Mass General Brigham (MGB) in the very same building.

This picket follows a letter delivered in October to Dana-Farber Board of Trustees Chair Josh Bekenstein, signed by 100 percent of DFCI Foxborough nurses. The letter urged the institution to close a significant wage gap that would leave Dana-Farber Foxborough nurses earning significantly less than MGB/Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses at a clinic in the same building.

Picket Details
Date: Thursday, November 13.
Time: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Location: Outside Patriot Place (on the sidewalk near the pedestrian gate opposite the Dana-Farber Foxborough building).

"Nurses at Foxborough deliver the same exceptional, lifesaving care that patients expect from Dana-Farber anywhere in Massachusetts," said Catherine Hulme, RN, DFCI Foxborough nurse and Co-Chair of the MNA Committee. "Yet Dana-Farber wants to pay us far less than MGB nurses working in the same building. Dana-Farber Foxborough nurses are simply asking to level the playing field. We provide the exact same care following the exact same policies. The wide gap in compensation is not only disrespectful, it also diminishes recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction."

DFCI Foxborough nurses emphasize that they perform advanced oncology work – administering intricate chemotherapy regimens, conducting patient education for every drug administered, rotating into the lab, and managing higher nurse-to-patient ratios than in Boston – while maintaining the same standards, certifications, and clinical expectations.

"Our patients deserve nurses who are valued and treated respectfully by Dana-Farber," said Nicole Maguire, RN, DFCI Foxborough nurse and Secretary of the MNA Committee. "Dana-Farber advertises that its care is the same at every campus, including Foxborough, and yet the institute refuses to equally value us. Together, we will make sure Dana-Farber Foxborough patients and nurses get what they need."

Why DFCI Foxborough Nurses Deserve Pay Equity

DFCI Foxborough nurses provide highly complex oncology and hematology care, including:

• The largest enrollment in treatment trials of any Dana-Farber satellite.
• Rotating into the lab – duties Boston nurses do not perform.
• Cross-training to cover Oncology Nurse Navigator and charge roles.
• Managing multiple complex regimens in a single shift (e.g., R-CHOP, INFED, and FOLFIRINOX back-to-back).
• Handling a broader range of diagnoses than specialized Boston nurses, including solid and liquid cancers.
• Conducting detailed chemotherapy education ("chemo teaches") for every drug administered.

Nurses have also noted that DFCI will be attempting to recruit hundreds of oncology nurses to its planned cancer hospital with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and will need to address the lower pay DFCI is offering nurses outside its main campus in Longwood.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 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