Baystate Franklin Medical Center to Remain Open During Nurse Strike

GREENFIELD — Baystate Franklin Medical Center received a notice from the Massachusetts Nurses Assoc. (MNA) of its intent to strike despite many months of work at the bargaining table. The MNA plans to take Baystate Franklin nurses on strike beginning Monday, June 26. In the healthcare industry, unions are required to provide the hospital with a 10-day notice to strike before a strike may be conducted.

Baystate Franklin will remain open and operational during the strike. A multi-disciplinary team has prepared a comprehensive strike-contingency plan to ensure patients’ and the community’s healthcare needs are met during the union’s strike. Baystate Franklin has contracted with a professional staffing agency to provide nurses for multiple days to ensure continued safe and quality care. This will affect the more than 200 Baystate Franklin nurses who are members of the bargaining unit.

“Our priority is the welfare and safety of patients, and we will continue providing safe, quality, uninterrupted care to our community, as we have for decades,” said Cindy Russo, Baystate Franklin’s president.

“We have worked hard to obtain a successor contract for our nurses over the last several months. However, the union has continued to make unfounded public accusations about our organization and has not been forthcoming with requested information, which has caused us to file an unfair-labor-practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board,” she went on. “We remain committed to bargaining in good faith with the union to reach agreement — hopefully without the MNA leading nurses out on strike. The MNA has the option to withdraw its 10-day notice before its strike begins.”