GREENFIELD — The nurses are set to strike again, April 11 — just over a month after calling off a strike in February — and in response, the hospital is again ready to bring in temporary nurses for multiple days.
Despite the nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center making progress over a core issue of health insurance with the hospital leadership, they say they remain far from a solution regarding staffing and patient care safety.
The strike is scheduled to come 1½ years since the original labor dispute between the Greenfield nurses and Baystate began — and about 10 months since the only strike so far during these months of negotiations.
The strike will last 24 hours, but it will also result in the hospital bringing in traveling nurses for “multiple days” to handle the duties of the nearly 200 Massachusetts Union Association nurses, according to the hospital.
In June 2017, the hospital had to put into effect a three-day lockout because of contract requirements with the staffing agency that prevented the hiring of temporary nurses for just 24 hours. The hospital did not specifically call this a “lockout” in its statement. The prior lockout cost the hospital about $1 million, the hospital had said last summer.
“A multidisciplinary team has prepared a comprehensive strike contingency plan to ensure patients’ and the community’s health care needs are met during the union’s strike,” Baystate Health spokeswoman Shelly Hazlett said in a statement.
The Greenfield chapter of the Massachusetts Nurses Association in recent months has pointed to Baystate’s ability to settle a contract with Baystate Noble as proof of the administration being able to settle a contract.
“Our nurses, our community members, the federal government and independent organizations have for years identified patient care problems at our hospital,” nurses union chairwoman Donna Stern said in a statement. “Baystate itself has acknowledged the problems, but refuses to solve them. Our nurses will not back down from trying to improve patient care. We will hold a one-day strike if necessary to make sure our patients get the high-quality care they deserve.”
The hospital, meanwhile, has pointed to the resolution of the labor dispute with Baystate Noble Hospital as a reason the nurses should be able to settle.
Typically, the hospital issues brief statements in response to the union’s announcements, often reiterating its main point that at Baystate, leaders “remain eager to see this issue resolved,” but Monday evening, a statement seemed to take a more critical tone.
“The MNA leadership’s decision to subject the local Greenfield community to a strike in the name of patient care is disheartening and disingenuous,” Hazlett said at the start of her statement. “The union’s rhetoric does a disservice to the reputation of the many fine clinicians along with all the employees who provide care to our community every day.”
Last month, the Greenfield nurses planned a strike for Feb. 28, but called it off. The nurses originally voted to authorize the right to strike Feb. 8.
Reach Joshua Solomon at:
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