Striking nurses, St. Vincent talks to resume Thursday and Friday

WORCESTER — Nurses on strike and St. Vincent Hospital leaders are headed back to the table, as a federal mediator has scheduled face-to-face, all-day talks on Thursday and Friday.

“As nurses continue to be resolved and united in our effort to ensure safer patient care, we look forward to this opportunity to meet in person with the hospital to start a good faith dialogue that we hope will lead to a settlement to end our strike,” Marlena Pellegrino, a longtime nurse at St. Vincent and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said in a press release.  “Getting back to our patients’ bedside with enforceable contract language on staffing that provides all of our patients with the care and dignity they deserve is our goal this week, and we hope that Tenet (the owner of St. Vincent Hospital) shares that goal.” 

The nurses’ strike will reach 137 days on Thursday, the longest strike nationally in more than a decade, according to the MNA. 

The primary issue remains the same as Day 1 — staffing levels.

Nurses are mainly advocating for a 1-4 ratio of nurses to patients on medical/surgical floors and telemetry units, in most cases, with a resource nurse to pitch in; increased staffing in the emergency department; and ancillary support in each unit.

The nurses have said that the current, primarily 1-5 ratio of nurse to patients, is unsafe. 

Tenet Healthcare, the Dallas-based company that owns and operates St. Vincent Hospital, originally proposed a 1-4 ratio on three of eight medical/surgical floors. It also proposed a 1-2 ratio in the progressive care unit and another critical care float nurse to address additional patient loads. 

Meanwhile, proposals, and counterproposals have failed to facilitate an agreement. The parties last met for negotiations July 9. 

The parties are scheduled to meet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the hospital on both Thursday and Friday, and “the MNA will present a comprehensive proposal that they hope can move the process forwards to a settlement,” according to the press release. 

A St. Vincent Hospital spokesperson said Wednesday that they had no statement on the scheduled resumption of talks.