Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital to Hold Strike Strike Vote Wednesday

Tuesday, February 09, 2021

GoLocalWorcester News Team

PHOTO: File of previous labor actions at St. Vincent

Approximately 800 registered nurses at St. Vincent Hospital, who are negotiating a new contract with Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, will vote Wednesday, Feb. 10 to authorize a strike on Wednesday.

Their union claims patient care conditions continue to deteriorate and Tenet refuses to heed nurses’ call to increase staffing levels to better protect their patients during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

The vote was scheduled after Tenet issued what it called its “last, best and final” offer at negotiations on Jan 28, an offer which once again, failed to include any proposal to address the hospital’s longstanding staffing/patient safety crisis. Nurses were outraged that Tenet chose to draw its line in the sand, just days before Tenet’s stock price rose to its highest level in months, a significant increase in shareholder profitability during the pandemic (from $31 on Feb 1, 2020, to close to $49 on Feb. 1, 2021), reaping millions of dollars for shareholders, while nurses report their patients in Worcester are experiencing a dramatic increase in patient falls, an increase in patient suffering from preventable bedsores, dangerous delays in patients receiving needed medications and other treatments – all due to lack of appropriate staffing, excessive patient assignments, and cuts to valuable support staff. The vote takes place the day before the parties’ next negotiation session, which is Feb. 11.

“This vote and potential strike are really about nurses standing up for our patients and community in the wake of Tenet administration’s continued refusal to put their concern for patients ahead of their desire for profits,” said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a frontline nurse at the hospital and chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). “As nurses, we are legally and morally obligated to advocate for our patients to ensure they are safe and receive the care they deserve. We have tried for months to convince our administration and the Tenet corporation to provide us with the resources we need to keep the public safe, yet they only make things worse – this is a step we feel compelled to take because our patients' lives are on the line.”

About the Vote

When: Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 6 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Where: The vote will be held at Leo’s Ristorante, 11 Leo Turo Way in Worcester.

How: Nurses will cast their votes by secret ballot. A positive vote does not mean the nurses will strike immediately. It gives the negotiating committee the authorization to call a strike if and when they feel it is necessary, and if the hospital fails to agree to a fair contract settlement that includes necessary improvements to staffing and patient care conditions. If the RN committee issues its official notice to strike, the hospital will then have a minimum of 10 days before the nurses go out on strike.
Editors Note: The committee will count the votes immediately following the close of voting and will notify the media of the result, most likely between 9 – 9:30 p.m.