MNA Files Federal Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Brigham and Women's Hospital for Preventing NICU Nurses from Leaving the Hospital After the Start of the Nurses' Historic Strike

Federal charge states MGB illegally prevented neonatal intensive care nurses from joining colleagues at the start of their historic strike on July 8

BOSTON, July 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Brigham and Women's Hospital, stating the hospital illegally prevented neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses from exercising their federally protected right to participate in the historic Brigham nurses' strike on July 8, 2026.

The charge states that after the strike began at 7:00 a.m. on July 8, hospital management refused to allow NICU nurses to leave the hospital and join the strike with their colleagues.

The unfair labor practice charge states:

"On July 8, 2026, the employer interfered with, restrained, and/or coerced bargaining unit nurses in its neonatal intensive care unit by refusing to release them from duty at 7:00 a.m. in according with their right to strike at a one-day strike called by the Charging Party to begin at 7:00 a.m."

NICU nurses reported that hospital management told them they could not leave because of concerns about patient safety. The incident reinforced one of the central issues Brigham nurses raised throughout the contract dispute: Mass General Brigham's decision to force a strike and then impose a four-day lockout while relying on temporary replacement nurses placed patients at unnecessary risk.

"The hospital cannot deny nurses their legal right to strike and then justify it by claiming patient safety concerns of its own making," said Kelly Morgan, RN, Chair of the Brigham MNA Bargaining Committee. "Brigham nurses warned for months that replacing experienced permanent nurses with temporary staff would jeopardize patient care. MGB chose that path anyway and then prevented NICU nurses from exercising their federally protected rights."

The concerns nurses said the hospital shared about NICU staffing and patient safety reflected fears expressed publicly by families with babies receiving care in the unit. Parents voiced concerns in multiple media interviews before and during the strike about the potential impact that replacing experienced NICU nurses could have on some of the hospital's most medically fragile patients.

"Brigham NICU nurses care for some of the smallest and sickest infants in the world," said Katie Nicoloro, a NICU nurse and member of the Brigham MNA Bargaining Committee. "If MGB believed it was unsafe to allow experienced NICU nurses to leave at the beginning of the strike, it raises serious questions about the hospital's decision to rely on replacement nurses throughout the lockout. This only reinforces why we continue fighting for contract provisions that prioritize experienced permanent nurses and continuity of patient care."

The unfair labor practice charge comes just days after Brigham nurses returned to bargaining following the largest nurse strike and lockout in Massachusetts history. During bargaining on July 21, nurses again pressed MGB to negotiate meaningful limits on the hospital's reliance on temporary nurses, arguing that continuity of care provided by experienced permanent nurses is essential to protecting patients. MGB refused to negotiate.

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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