Don’t Let MGB Gaslight You
During and after our historic one-day strike and four-day lockout, MGB has been circulating misleading
claims about negotiations. Here’s what Brigham nurses want you to know.
MGB says: “We value and respect our nurses.”
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
Respect is shown through acons. Value is demonstrated by what MGB agrees to in our contract. MGB forced us to strike by refusing to negoate key patient care priories and offering a 0% cost of
living raise while trying to increase our health insurance costs.
Following the lock-out, MGB has still refused to come to the table and negotiate. If MGB executives truly respected us, they would negotiate on the issues that matter to nurses and patients. Don’t believe their words. Believe in their actions.
MGB’s pattern of disrespect extends beyond the bargaining table. Nurses are routinely being denied
earned holiday and vacation time, conference requests are regularly rejected, payroll errors are unresolved, and management is cancelling nurses’ scheduled shifts inappropriately.
When nurses raise patient safety concerns or file safety reports, we are often met with intimidation
or dismissal instead of solutions. HR is difficult to access when nurses need help during leaves of
absence (nurses are told to wait a month for leave appointments), and repeated requests to address
issues affecting paents and staff – such as restoring overnight chaplain services – are being ignored.
This disregard for basic functions of our contract is also why nurses are fighng to hold MGB
accountable.
MGB says: “The remaining issues are primarily
economic.”
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
Our biggest remaining issues are about protecng the quality of patient care and retaining
experienced nurses. MGB has refused to negotiate on:
- Limits on temporary travel nurses so patients receive more consistent care from experienced Brigham nurses. After their lockout, MGB added even more traveler nurses to the OR.
- Affordable health insurance with meaningful plan choice.
- A float differenal recognizing nurses who regularly care for patients across multiple units in one shift and if a nurse is floated off-service.
- A meaningful cost-of-living wage increase to recruit and retain experienced nurses.
Every one of these issues directly affects patient care and staffing.
MGB says: The hospital is engaged in negotiations.
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
MGB representaves have scarcely scraped the bare minimum. They show up for a negotiation session
when called by the federal mediator. They do not come into the room with us, and they do not move an inch.
Before the strike, we reduced our cost-of-living wage proposal from 13% to a 7% increase over 18
months, made several other compromises, and repeatedly told MGB we were prepared to
negotiate further.
We repeated our willingness to bargain on:
• June 25
• July 2
• July 6 in the Governor’s Office
• July 8 in the Governor’s Office
• Every day throughout the strike and
lockout.
• July 21, August 6, and August 11 through the federal mediator during
bargaining.
Pretending to engage in an important process is the definion of bad faith and disrespect.
MGB says: We cannot afford the union’s proposals.
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
MGB is the largest and wealthiest hospital system in New England. It is so wealthy that it pays multiple execuves millions of dollars a year just to manage its investment income. It has an entire real estate division, and in 2024 paid 14 execuves a combined $35.9 million.
MGB reported a $2.4 billion in net margin last year and CEO Anne Klibanski $9.2 million in FY2025.
Without nurses, MGB would not be able to operate or generate billions of dollars in revenue. MGB
cannot afford to NOT invest in nurses.
MGB dominates Massachuses healthcare, operating as the state’s largest healthcare system while also owning its own health insurance company. That allows MGB to collect revenue not only when patients receive care, but also through the insurance premiums paid by many of its own employees and patients. At the same me, MGB is spending billions on expansion projects and executive priorities while claiming it cannot invest more in the experienced bedside nurses who make that growth possible.
Despite this, MGB has insisted on:
- A 0% across-the-board wage increase for most Brigham nurses
- Higher health insurance costs
- No limits on travel nurses
- No float differential
Brigham nurses are asking MGB to invest in the permanent nurses who provide patient care every day.
MGB says: “Patients received safe, high-quality care throughout the work stoppage.”
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
Brigham nurses returned after the lockout and found numerous patient safety concerns. We also heard of serious patient care issues during the lockout from staff inside the hospital, and from patients and their family members. We are compiling reports for the Department of Public Health.
Our experience during the lockout reinforced exactly why we connue fighng for stronger staffing protections and less reliance on temporary replacement nurses. Safe patient care depends on
experienced permanent nurses who know their patients, coworkers, equipment, and hospital
systems.
MGB says: The hospital used qualified replacement nurses.
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
The hospital revealed the names of many of the replacement nurses used during the strike and lockout. A simple search of the Board of Registraon in Nursing database showed replacement nurses who had expired licenses or who had been licensed for extremely short periods of me. Patients reported that replacement nurses did not know basic nursing functions, such as how to place a cardiac monitor on an admied paent.
One replacement nurse posted a video of themselves on social media inside the hospital claiming to be stealing medical products and not working. We are documenng these issues with the Department of Public Health.
MGB says: We are proposing a “modest” increase in health insurance costs.
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
First, we have two main priories around health insurance. One is that the hospital provide addional choice for nurses to select between MGB insurance and the post-tax Harvard Pilgrim plan that is protected in our contract. MGB has refused to provide insurance choice, despite holding nurses hostage to insurance tax penales for a year. Second, after creating enormous anxiety for nurses that was only resolved by an agreement on compliance that increased co-pay costs for those in the Harvard Pilgrim plan, now the hospital wants to increase that plan’s premium cost for nurses. They claim the increase would be “modest.” That is not true. MGB wants to increase premium costs for nurses on the Harvard Pilgrim plan by:
- 50% if you work 30-39 hours and have individual coverage (5% increased to 7.5%).
- 25% if you work 20-29 hours and have individual coverage (10% to 12.5%).
- 25% if you work 30-40 hours and have family coverage (10% to 12.5%).
- 12.5% if you work 20-29 hours and have family coverage (20% to 22.5%).
- MGB also wants 40-hour nurses on the individual plan to go from paying 0% to 2.5%.
MGB says: We have already paid Brigham nurses enough.
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
Brigham nurses have earned every improvement in wages and benefits through decades of collecve
bargaining. We organize, negotiate, and stand together to fight for what we deserve. Those improvements, and the protection of Brigham nurse benefits, did not happen because MGB voluntarily chose to invest in Brigham nurses.
In fact, MGB has tried to reduce benefits and has fought against reasonable wage increases for many years. The hospital tried to divide nurses and reduce benefits for new nurses 10 years ago. That is a major reason why we almost went on strike in 2016.
Now, despite continued high inflation and ongoing staffing challenges, MGB is refusing to negotiate
meaningful improvements that help recruit and retain experienced bedside nurses. Economic data showing that from 2020 to 2024, the income needed to maintain a middle-class standard of living for a two-parent family with two school-age children in Massachuses jumped nearly 50 percent, according to the MassINC Policy Center. Inflation in Massachuses remains high, according to a report released last month.
MGB says: Nurses already get 5% wage increases per year
The Truth from Brigham Nurses:
Our contract does include a 21-step scale wage scale with 5% between each step. About 30-40% of Brigham nurses do not receive these steps because they are at the top. They only receive any
negotiated cost of living increases (across-the-board increases).
The wage step scale was negotiated decades ago and is a longstanding aspect of the nurses’ contract,
valuing experience and longevity at BWH. It is a major reason why BWH has been able to recruit and
retain nurses over the years. It has only remained competitive because of cost-of-living increases that
have enabled the scale to provide a competitive wage today. However, without addional cost-of-
living increases, the scale will fall behind, and nurses will find more competitive pay elsewhere.
In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area, the annual inflation rate was 3.2 percent as of May 2026,
driven largely by increases in energy, food, and shelter costs according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. A 0% cost-of-living increase is a major wage cut.
Why Brigham Nurses are Still Fighting for a Fair
Contract
We went on strike because MGB refused to negoate a fair agreement that protects patients and respects the nurses who care for them. It’s that simple.
We remain ready to bargain. We remain ready to compromise to reach a fair agreement. But we will not accept a contract that ignores the issues that matter most to our patients, our profession, and the future of our hospital.