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Brigham nurses rejected MGB's final offer. Topped-out nurses got 2.5% a year, below inflation.

The 4,000-nurse union got no across-the-board raise; about 1,322 at the top were offered 2.5% as prices rose 3.7%.

Brigham nurses rejected MGB's final offer. Topped-out nurses got 2.5% a year, below inflation.
Stock photo. Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash

Nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston voted down Mass General Brigham's "last, best and final" contract offer, the Massachusetts Nurses Association announced on Oct. 23. Voting ran Oct. 22 and 23. The union's bargaining committee represents more than 4,000 nurses, the largest group of unionized nurses in Massachusetts, WBUR reported. The union said a majority voted no but has not released the tally.

The union has asked Mass General Brigham (MGB) to come back to the table in the coming week. As of Saturday, the hospital had not answered that request, the State House News Service reported. No new strike date has been announced.

"A foundational principle of our union is that every nurse's voice matters," said Kelly Morgan, a labor and delivery nurse and chair of the Brigham MNA bargaining committee. She called on MGB to "return to the table ready to negotiate in good faith."

Topped out at 2.5%

The fight is over wages. Brigham nurses already climb a step scale that pays about 5% more each year for their first 20 years. MGB's offer added no across-the-board raise on top of that. For nurses who have maxed out the scale, it offered new top steps worth 2.5% a year for two years, according to WBUR and the hospital's own description of the offer.

That top group is big. About 1,322 nurses, roughly a third of the unit, are at the maximum, which pays at least $220,000 a year, the Boston Globe reported. Starting pay is $86,700. The union asked for 3% across the board for the first six months and 4% for the next 12.

For a nurse at the top, 2.5% a year trails inflation. Consumer prices rose 3.7% in the 12 months ending in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. For everyone else, the offer mostly pays the step raises nurses were already due. The union has called the refusal of cost-of-living raises "a strategy we believe is intended to break our union," GBH reported.

MGB said it was "disappointed by the outcome" and that its offer kept Brigham nursing pay "among the highest in the market." The hospital said it "is prepared to maintain uninterrupted care and respond to any steps the union may take," CBS Boston reported.

Thin margin, $22.8 billion in revenue

MGB says it can't afford what nurses want, and it began a new round of layoffs last week without saying how many jobs will go, the Globe reported. The system cut about 1,500 positions in early 2025.

The numbers behind that claim: in fiscal 2025, MGB took in $22.8 billion in operating revenue and finished with a $59 million operating gain, a 0.3% margin, according to the Globe and Fierce Healthcare. Counting investment income, its total margin was $2.38 billion, the Globe reported. Midway through fiscal 2026, it reported a $65 million operating loss.

Locked out, then told to wait

Nurses struck for one day in July. MGB then locked them out for four more days, saying it had promised temporary replacement nurses five days of work. A lockout is the employer's version of a strike: the company bars workers from their jobs, and their pay, to pressure them at the bargaining table. The Supreme Court held in American Ship Building Co. v. NLRB (1965) that an employer may lawfully lock workers out after talks reach an impasse to back its bargaining position.

An open-ended strike set for Oct. 14 was postponed so nurses could vote on the final offer. If talks fail again, the nurses can strike, but not by surprise. Section 8(g) of the National Labor Relations Act requires a union at a health care institution to give the hospital and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service written notice at least 10 days before a strike or picket, with the date and time it begins. The rule gives hospitals time to protect patients, and it means any strike would be announced well in advance.

Long hospital fights can grind on. Nurses at Henry Ford Genesys near Flint just ended a 411-day strike. Watch whether MGB agrees to meet this week, and whether the union files a 10-day notice.

Sources

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