Important news from our friends at the Massachusetts Nurses Association:

Baystate Franklin Medical Center Nurses Schedule Actions during One-Day Strike for Patient Safety and the Hospital’s Threatened Lock Out 

Baystate refuses to agree to a fair contract that improves patient care; nurses are prepared to strike for 24 hours on April 11

GREENFIELD, Mass. – The registered nurses of Baystate Franklin Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are preparing to take a series of actions this week in support of safe patient care as they hold a 24-hour strike and Baystate threatens to lock nurses out of their hospital for an additional two days.

“Baystate Franklin Medical Center nurses want to be inside our hospital caring for our patients with the resources they need and deserve,” said RN Donna Stern, Senior Co-Chair of the BFMC RN Bargaining Committee. “Instead Baystate is forcing us to strike for 24 hours to advocate for safe patient care.

“On top of that, Baystate is using public money to lock our own nurses out before our strike and for two days afterward,” Stern said. “Executives will be paying replacement nurses from around the country instead of allowing our nurses, who know our patients and our community, to provide care at our hospital.”

Tuesday, April 10

·         Rally 6-8 p.m. in front of the main entrance of the hospital. Nurses who are preemptively locked out by Baystate will exit at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11

·         One-day strike begins at 7 a.m. Picketing from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. with rallies at noon and 5 p.m. 

Thursday, April 12

·         Rally for nurses trying to return to work at 7 a.m. One-day strike ends. 

·         Starting at 10 a.m. nurses and community members will take part in a “Community Day” – cleaning up the parks and streets around BFMC

·         Rally at 5 p.m. outside BFMC and picket until 8 p.m.

Friday, April 13

·         A “Baystate Bankers, Bigwigs and Business Owners Brigade” starting at 11 a.m. The tour will take nurses and community supporters to Baystate Corporate offices in Springfield and five businesses owned or operated by trustees.

·         Rally from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. outside BFMC. Nurses will walk returning nurses into work when Baystate’s lock out is schedule to end.

On March 26, BFMC nurses provided the hospital more than the 10-days’ strike notice required by law. A 24-hour strike is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, April 11 and end at 7 a.m. on Thursday, April 12 unless Baystate agrees to a fair contract that improves nurse staffing and patient care conditions.

Baystate has threatened to lock out BFMC nurses starting at 7 p.m. on April 10 and continuing until 7 p.m. on April 13.

For more information on nurse negotiations, including details on their current patient care and staffing proposal, visit www.massnurses.org/Baystate.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.