Updated 4 hours ago
Courtesy Rep. Lori Trahan
Two U.S. representatives from Massachusetts joined a group of nurses rallying outside Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester on Saturday, where a strike has now been going for 10 consecutive weeks.
Reps. Lori Trahan and James P. McGovern helped host a Rally Against Replacement days after Tenet Healthcare, the Dallas-based owner of Saint Vincent Hospital, said it would begin hiring 50 permanent replacement nurses. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
The move could mean striking nurses aren t guaranteed a position when the strike ends.
Two U.S. representatives from Massachusetts joined a group of nurses rallying outside Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester on Saturday, where a strike has now been going for 10 consecutive weeks. Reps. Lori Trahan and James P. McGovern helped host a “Rally Against Replacement” days after Tenet Healthcare, the Dallas-based owner of Saint Vincent Hospital, said it would begin hiring 50.
Carlos Cruz, slain Worcester father of four, remembered for ‘giant-sized heart’ at vigil as loved ones call for end to gun violence
Updated May 14, 2021;
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Since Sunday, in the hours after Carlos Cruz was gunned down in Worcester, people mentioned two things about the father of four: his “big smile” and his “giant-sized heart.”
Recalling that memory to a group of mourners at a vigil on Friday afternoon, Cruz’s brother Javier Pena pointed out that Worcester is known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth.”
“Carlos Miguel Cruz was the heart of Worcester,” Pena told the several dozen friends and family members who stood outside the Paku Lounge at 215 Chandler St., where Cruz was shot over the weekend.
Tenet Healthcare hires nurses to “permanently replace” strikers at Massachusetts hospital
Seven hundred nurses who have been on strike at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts for more than nine weeks are now being threatened with mass firings by Tenet Healthcare. The Dallas-based healthcare giant announced Wednesday it would begin hiring nurses to “permanently replace” the strikers.
St. Vincent Hospital said in a news release that it plans to fill around 50 nursing positions, including all day-shift positions scheduled for 32 hours or more per week in critical care and all but one inpatient medical-surgical unit. At the same time, Tenet’s website has posted openings for scores of positions at the hospital, with sign-on bonuses of up to $5,000.
SEIU calls off strike by Connecticut nursing home workers, accepts governor’s inadequate last-minute deal
Connecticut Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and nursing home operators reached an eleventh-hour agreement to prevent 2,800 workers at 26 nursing homes throughout the state from going on strike early Friday morning. The deal will also prevent another 1,200 workers at other facilities from striking May 28.
The proposed agreement provides raises that are inadequate to ensure these essential workers a decent living in one of the country’s more expensive states. Moreover, it does not address workers’ demands for improved staffing ratios in nursing homes, which have been ravaged by COVID-19 infections and deaths.