MNA: MGB Refuses to Schedule More Negotiations or Make Any Proposals to Brigham Nurses in Third Session Following Historic Strike

MGB presents nurses with unacceptable choice between abandoning wage increases or other patient care and contract priorities

CANTON, Mass., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mass General Brigham (MGB) told Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses Tuesday through the federal mediator that MGB is no longer willing to negotiate unless nurses make significant changes to their latest proposal, escalating a contract dispute that has already resulted in the largest nurse strike and lockout in Massachusetts history.

At approximately 10:42 a.m. Tuesday, the federal mediator informed the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) bargaining committee that MGB believes negotiations have reached a "practical impasse" and does not want to continue meeting with nurses under the current circumstances. According to the mediator, MGB is not presently indicating that it intends to impose its last offer.

MGB's position comes from the highest levels of the healthcare system, including its executives and Board of Directors.

"This is an outrageous response to the 4,000 Brigham nurses who have repeatedly demonstrated that we are ready to negotiate a fair contract," said Kelly Morgan, RN, Chair of the Brigham MNA Bargaining Committee. "MGB has the resources to settle this contract. Instead, its executives are refusing even to sit down with us unless we first abandon major patient care priorities. We are stronger than ever, we are united, and we will continue escalating our campaign until MGB respects its nurses and negotiates a fair agreement."

Through the mediator, MGB presented nurses with two potential paths forward: Nurses could agree to no across-the-board wage increase, in which case MGB indicated there may be room to discuss other issues; or nurses could drop all other outstanding issues, in which case MGB indicated there may be room to discuss wages. Neither option included a commitment by MGB to actually agree to nurses' priorities.

The MNA bargaining committee rejected this false choice. Nurses instead offered to participate in an off-the-record discussion to explore how much flexibility existed on both sides and whether there was a potential path toward settlement. MGB refused.

Nurses continue seeking improvements on several key issues, including limits on MGB's reliance on temporary nurses to support continuity and quality of care; affordable health insurance with meaningful plan choice; a differential for nurses required to float among units; and a meaningful cost-of-living wage increase.

"We are not asking MGB to simply accept everything we have proposed," said Jim McCarthy, RN, Vice Chair of the Brigham MNA Bargaining Committee. "We offered to have an informal discussion about where both sides have flexibility, and MGB would not even do that. You cannot reach a compromise when one side refuses to talk. Brigham nurses have already shown the enormous power we have when we stand together, and we are prepared to use that power again."

Based on MGB's refusal to continue negotiations, nurses are escalating their campaign and assessing their next steps, including the possibility of a second strike.

Brigham nurses held a historic one-day strike beginning July 8, followed by a four-day lockout imposed by MGB. Approximately 4,500 Brigham nurses and MGB Home Care clinicians participated in strikes beginning July 8, making the coordinated action the largest strike of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts history.

Learn more at www.massnurses.org/MGB.

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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