NORTHAMPTON — Baystate Franklin Medical Center nurses continued their calls for higher pay and staffing levels by protesting outside the Baystate Health & Wellness Center in Northampton on Monday morning.
In a statement, Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) Bargaining Committee members said they hoped continued public action and community support would push the hospital administration to reach an agreement. The two parties have been working to negotiate a new contract since September 2025.
“Baystate executives say they care about our communities, but their actions at the bargaining table undermine our nursing workforce and local patient care,” Suzanne Love, a registered nurse at Baystate Franklin and co-chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee, said in the statement. “Every day that Baystate delays a fair agreement makes it harder to recruit and retain nurses in Franklin County. Our patients deserve a hospital that is fully staffed and prepared to meet the community’s needs.”
“We have shown again and again that we are willing to compromise and work toward a fair settlement,” added Marissa Potter, an obstetrics nurse at Baystate Franklin and co-chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee, in the statement. “Patients, nurses, elected officials and residents all understand that protecting local health care requires investing in the nurses who provide it. It’s time for Baystate to settle a fair contract.”
State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, at right, speaks with Massachusetts Nurses Association Members outside the Baystate Health & Wellness Center in Northampton on Monday. Credit: CONTRIBUTED 
Massachusetts Nurses Association members and supporters protested outside the Baystate Health & Wellness Center in Northampton on Monday. Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Potter said hospital administration has not given the nurses any more potential dates for negotiation and issued a “final offer” last week. While nurses are set to vote on the contract on Wednesday, Potter said it does not address all of the union’s concerns about staffing levels, pay discrepancies among Baystate locations and employee protections.
According to job postings on the Baystate Health website, nurses at Baystate Franklin are hired with pay ranging from $37.98 to $62.87 an hour, and nurse manager positions are listed with starting salary ranges of $130,977 to $178,048.
The wages listed for positions at Baystate Franklin are lower than those at other Baystate locations. In Palmer, Ware and Springfield, registered nurse positions are listed with a range from $41.82 to $66.30 an hour.
The 76-page “Last, Best and Final Offer” offers the nurses a $3 raise effective upon the signing of the document, along with a 3% raise in 2027 and a 3.5% raise in 2028.
Potter said the nurses want a retroactive pay raise, effective from December 2025, when the previous contract expired. The nurses have been operating under monthly extension contracts while negotiations have been underway.
The nurses are also pushing to add additional night shift nurses and to consider the beds in the emergency room hallway when calculating nurse-to-patient ratios. The hospital system has agreed to the union’s demand that it not rely on non-union float nurses to fill shifts and patient ratios. The draft agreement outlines that per-diem nurses will be used instead, and only those who are MNA union members.
State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, joined the nurses on Monday and said that while U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren could not join, they sent their solidarity and support for the nurses.
“You deserve everything you’re asking for and more,” Comerford said. “I’m happy to be here in solidarity. … I’m happy to be arm in arm with them and with you all.”
Efforts to reach Baystate Health spokesperson Heather Duggan by phone and email were not successful by press time on Monday.
