Tenet Healthcare declines offer from Saint Vincent Hospital’s nurses to continue negotiations on Friday, strike likely to enter 10th week
Updated May 07, 2021;
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Any momentum in the talks between Tenet Healthcare and the nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital appeared to evaporate by the end of the week. It caps a period that saw the two sides meet three times in a span of 10 days.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association on Friday said that Tenet, the Dallas-based parent company of Saint Vincent Hospital, declined the nurse’s offer to return to the negotiating table on Friday.
A mediator informed the nurses on Thursday that Tenet would not meet on Friday, and will not meet until the nurses agree to compromise on their call for safer staffing.
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Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and the union Massachusetts Nurses Association appear to be closer to ending the nurses strike ongoing since March 8, after the hospital agreed to modify contract language around staffing levels.
The two sides met on Saturday, where Saint Vincent made a proposal for staffing levels that mirrors that of UMass Memorial Medical Center, which is the other major hospital in Worcester. The union said it will respond to the proposal when the sides resume negotiations at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The strike has now lasted 57 days, the longest Massachusetts nurses strike in two decades. At the heart of the disagreement are the nurse-to-patient staffing ratios at the hospital, which the MNA tried to get all hospitals to adopt as part of a failed ballot initiative in 2018.