Nearly 4,000 Nurses Just Voted 99.6% to Strike at One of America’s Top Hospitals

Image source: Boston Globe

Nearly 4,000 registered nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have voted 99.6% to authorize a one-day strike, a result the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) says is the largest registered nurse strike authorization vote in Massachusetts history.

The June 16 tally was 2,798 yes votes to just 12 no votes, with roughly 70% of the union turning out. The nurses, who make up one of the largest single nurse bargaining units in the state, are part of the Mass General Brigham (MGB) system.

A strike is not automatic. The vote authorizes the BWH bargaining committee to schedule a one-day strike if talks fail, and state law requires the union to give the hospital 10 days’ notice first. Both sides were scheduled to return to the table on June 18.

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The strike authorization caps more than seven months of negotiations and 19 bargaining sessions that the union says have failed to produce a fair agreement. Brigham and Women’s has not seen a nurses’ strike in decades, and the last strike authorization vote at the hospital, in 2016, was resolved with a last-minute deal.

According to the MNA, the central sticking points are wages, health insurance, and staffing. The union says MGB offered no across-the-board (cost-of-living) wage increases for nurses below the top pay step and proposed raising nurses’ health insurance costs, though those nurses would still receive step increases tied to experience. 

The hospital, for its part, says it has put forward 5% annual step increases plus raises for top-scale nurses, while nurses are pushing for the cost-of-living increases included in past contracts. Nurses are also demanding limits on the use of temporary travel nurses and more investment in permanent staff to improve continuity of care.

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Money, Executives, and the Union’s Argument

Much of the union’s messaging has focused on MGB’s finances. The MNA points to the system’s $59.2 million operating gain in fiscal year 2024 and approximately $2.4 billion in total net gains—figures that include non-operating income such as investments—up from about $2 billion the prior year. The union also says MGB paid its top 14 executives a combined $35.9 million in a single year, with CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski earning more than $8.4 million.

“I am incredibly proud of Brigham nurses for standing up for our patients, our profession, and each other with this vote. We do not want to strike, but MGB executives have left nurses with little choice,” said Kelly Morgan, RN, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the BWH MNA bargaining committee. “You cannot claim patient care is your top priority while refusing to invest in the nurses who provide that care every day.”

Jim McCarthy, RN, a PACU nurse and vice chair of the committee, tied the numbers directly to the contract fight. “Nurses are being told there is no money for meaningful wage increases and affordable health insurance, yet MGB paid its top 14 executives $35.9 million in a single year,” he said. “That tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of this organization.”

The union has also raised alarms about service changes at the hospital, including the closure of the Brigham Burn Unit and the elimination of its Integrated Care Management Program. These allegations are part of the union’s bargaining case and have not been independently verified; Mass General Brigham has not publicly responded to these specific claims.

Mass General Brigham has pushed back. In a statement, the hospital said it respects and values its nurses and remains committed to reaching a fair agreement, adding that it is prepared to continue providing safe, high-quality care to patients if a strike occurs.

The Brigham vote is the latest flashpoint in a wave of nurse strike authorizations across multiple systems, not just within Mass General Brigham. In recent months, MGB Home Care clinicians voted 92% to authorize a potential seven-day strike, and Cooley Dickinson Hospital nurses authorized a one-day strike over similar concerns. In a parallel development, approximately 1,200 nurses at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital voted about 96% to authorize a strike Monday, citing unsafe staffing, benefit cuts, and stalled contract negotiations after more than 45 days without a contract.

For nurses watching from outside Boston, the dispute is a familiar one: pay that keeps pace with cost of living, affordable health benefits, and staffing levels that protect patient safety.

The outcome here matters beyond Brigham. Because this is the largest nurse bargaining unit in Massachusetts, the contract that emerges could set a benchmark for wage and staffing expectations at other large systems. It also underscores a recurring theme in nursing labor fights nationwide: the gap between how hospitals describe their financial health and what frontline nurses say they are being offered at the table. For now, no strike date has been set, and the next move depends on whether the June 18 session moves the two sides closer together.

🤔 If your hospital reported billions in gains but offered you a 0% cost-of-living raise, would that be enough to push you to vote for a strike? Tell us in the comments below.