Brigham Nurses United

We will share information about contract negotiations and other issues on this page. Please talk to your colleagues about important union topics and connect with your MNA representatives. The strength of our union is based on these conversations and how well we work together to achieve our goals.

Below see the BWH MNA Committee list, and links to our contract, guidelines, and new member orientation. See the latest negotiation updates below these items.

MNA BWH Contract

MNA BWH Guidelines

MNA BWH New Member Orientation

MNA Committee Representing the Brigham and Women’s Nurses 2025

Negotiation Updates

MNA Negotiations Update: March 4, 2026

We made progress today on contract language that affects nurses every day throughout the hospital, while restating to management the insulting nature of their wage offer. We cannot believe the hospital proposed a 0% increase for nurses below the top step. This disrespectful proposal comes as MGB remains the wealthiest hospital system in Massachusetts, earning a profit, pouring money into expansion, and paying its executives millions of dollars per year.

We started the day discussing urgent issues that have come up outside of negotiations. For instance, we continued to pressure the hospital to make sure seniority is accurate for the upcoming vacation selection period. We also raised concerns about reports that nurses may be required to care for the minor children of patients in the Emergency Department or elsewhere. This is unsafe for everyone involved. At the table, CNO Julia Mason said staff nurses should not be responsible for these children and stated she would investigate.

Discipline & Arbitration
Management offered to withdraw their proposal requiring the losing party pay all arbitration costs if we withdrew our proposal requiring disciplinary investigations begin within 60 days or no discipline could occur later. We rejected that trade because of the importance of timely disciplinary investigations. It is not fair for an investigation to be held over a nurse’s head for a long period of time.

Charge Nurses and the Rover App Transition
We reiterated our proposal that Charge Nurses and Nurses-in-Charge should not carry patient assignments or have lesser assignments, tying this to management’s Rover app transition. We suggested nurses-in-charge/charge nurses without assignments could take photos with Rover, helping to ensure nurses are not burdened with additional tasks. We also reiterated our Rover counter proposal that protects nurses from discipline for accidental record access through the app.

Jury Duty
We agreed to parts of management’s jury duty counter proposal around notice and documentation while maintaining that jury service should count as a nurse’s scheduled shift.

Conference Time
Our proposal clarifies that educational courses count as professional development and will be reimbursed, increases the overall reimbursement cap from $4,000 to $5,000 per year, allows all APRNs to use the full $5,000 for conference time, guarantees one conference day for all per diems, and improves access to conference days for nurses in all units.

Proposal Exchanges

We proposed to management that we would accept their proposal that nurses who work a holiday would have 12 weeks, rather than 8, to take a compensatory day in exchange for our vacation cancellation proposal. Our proposal would allow nurses to give vacation time back before the schedule is posted. That time would be offered to the nurse that was denied that time off and would have been next on the list. After a schedule is posted, cancellation would be at the discretion of the unit manager. We also proposed that we would accept management’s on-call proposal if they accepted our proposal to increase on-call pay.

We will continue pushing management to address the core issues nurses care about most.Our next negotiation session is on March 17. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Feb. 11, 2026

Today’s bargaining session focused on three major issues: Management’s terrible wage proposal, the hospital’s proposed transition from Voalte to Rover, and urgent CRNA recruitment and retention concerns.

INSULTING NURSES AT EVERY TURN: Management Makes Offensive Wage Proposal

Mass General Brigham is one of the wealthiest healthcare systems in the country. It brings in billions in annual revenue, maintains massive financial reserves, and pays its top executives millions of dollars each year. It is a health system uniquely positioned to invest in its nursing workforce. Yet, for some reason, it has decided to do the opposite.

After holding our health insurance hostage for a year over non-compliance taxes, MGB is now proposing to increase our Harvard Pilgrim costs. Combine that with their anemic wage proposal and many Brigham nurses would actually take a pay cut. We told management at the beginning of negotiations that nurses are angry about how they have been treated. We urged the hospital not to make a low initial wage offer and further anger nurses. Their response was to propose NOTHING for nurses below the top step.

Management’s wage counter:

• 18-month contract
• 0% for any nurse not at the top step
• Sept. 30, 2026:
  • RN & NIC scales: Add new Step 22 at 1% above Step 21
  • All other scales: 1% lump sum for nurses at the top step

This proposal will not keep pace with the Boston nursing market and does nothing to meaningfully improve recruitment or retention. By contrast, our proposal would properly respect the care we provide and address our competitiveness issues by:

• Removing the lowest steps (2 and 3 for staff nurses, steps 1 and 2 for all other pay scales) in all pay scales. Nurses would move upward automatically based on experience level.
• Providing all nurses a 10% across-the-board (ATB) raise on April 1, 2026
• Providing all nurses a 5% ATB raise on April 1, 2027.
• Adding a new top step worth 5% more than the current top step effective April 1, 2026.

Management’s differential increases were similarly minimal (e.g., evening shifts increasing by 25 cents; night shifts by 25 cents; weekend differentials rising by 25 cents). These changes do not reflect the real demands of off-shift, weekend, float, and on-call work.

Management also offered counter proposals on bereavement leave, degree differentials, the special voluntary election from banks to benefit time and Friday scheduling. We responded with counters on the BT election, bereavement, and Friday scheduling.

Protecting Nurses During the Rover Transition

Management wants to eliminate our Voalte memorandum of agreement as the hospital transitions to Rover and eventually secure messaging through Epic. We raised serious concerns about:

• The liability of having patient alarms on phones.
• Provider overreliance on images instead of bedside assessment.
• Sanitation and infection control.
• Increased responsibilities pushed onto nurses.
• Protection against discipline.

Management said it has “no interest” in tracking phones and does not want photography by nurses to substitute for providers being at the bedside. History shows us that this kind of technology puts more responsibility on nurses and moves it away from providers.

We made a counterproposal that includes important safeguards:

• No GPS, patient alarms, or buddy system without mutual agreement.
• Cameras disabled except for wound/ostomy nurses.
• Login/logout data cannot be used for discipline.
• Accidental patient record access via Rover cannot be used against a nurse.

Addressing the CRNA Vacancy Crisis

CRNAs joined us on Wednesday to highlight a 45–50% vacancy rate and address with management the best ways to fix recruitment and retention problems. Since a correction in 2019, CRNA wages have fallen far behind competitors. BWH’s starting CRNA salary is $40,000 below other hospitals, and it takes four years to reach competitor entry-level pay.

Last summer, management eliminated longstanding educational pay, further undermining competitiveness and forcing CRNAs to pay out-of-pocket for many continuing education requirements. We have filed a grievance over this change and have proposed that the hospital provide meaningful educational support to CRNAs. We also believe that management’s proposed CRNA sign-on bonuses are not the right solution. Instead, we have proposed wage scale improvements for CRNAs that would make their pay competitive.

MGB must invest in CRNAs and all members of our bargaining unit to maintain a strong nursing workforce. We will push management at the table until they agree to a contract that allows us to continue providing the quality-of-care Brigham patients deserve.

Our next negotiation session is on February 25. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Feb. 3, 2026

MNA Negotiations Update: Jan. 28, 2026

On Wednesday, we focused on urgent and long-standing OR issues, particularly those affecting cardiac and thoracic nurses. At our request, Janet Gorman, ACNO for Perioperative Services, joined bargaining. The OR is a single cost center with multiple highly specialized skill sets, unlike most units where nurses can easily cover their colleagues. Nurses have raised concerns about being denied time off due to chronic understaffing of staff specialized in cardiac and thoracic surgery. Nurses in this area carry a disproportionately high call burden. This problem has persisted for years and is now being raised for the second round of bargaining. Burnout is high, and nurses are considering leaving the Brigham.

Management acknowledged the higher call burden and said they have been working to recruit. We stressed that immediate relief is needed, pointing out that our on-call proposal would limit mandatory on-call to 156 hours per nurse per year, with any hours above that paid at straight time. This would fairly compensate nurses and create a financial incentive for the hospital to reduce on-call through proper staffing.

PACU Scheduling Issues

Nurses raised concerns about recent scheduling changes in the PACU following an email announcing standardized schedules (such as 4x10s, 3x10s, or 3x12s). This was done without discussion and echoed similar scheduling disruptions previously experienced in the OR. Management said the email did not reflect that further discussion with nurses is planned. They said these changes will not come into effect until the next schedule to allow discussion with nurses on the unit. We emphasized that unilateral scheduling changes undermine work-life balance and professional respect. The hospital needs to be truly collaborative before making changes.

Counters on Key Proposals

One-Time Option to Switch to Benefit Time (BT)
MNA proposal: A one-time option to switch to BT with conversions similar to the 2013 program.
Management counter: Agreed to a one-time switch but proposed capping sick time conversion at 40 hours.
MNA response: We proposed that nurses could convert 25% of existing sick time to BT.

Increased Education Degree Different
MNA proposal: Extend degree differentials to all qualified bargaining unit members, including per diems.
Management counter: They proposed excluding per diems and limiting eligibility to staff nurses, nurses-in-charge, and clinical nurses only.
MNA response: We proposed extending doctorate differentials to all members and allowing per diems to receive the same differentials as regularly scheduled nurses for all weeks they work.

Specialty Certification Pay
MNA proposal: Annual certification pay for all relevant certifications for all bargaining unit members.
Management counter: They would limit reimbursement to two certifications and only select roles.
MNA response: We agreed to limit reimbursement to two certifications but insisted that certification reimbursement apply to all bargaining unit members.

We also reviewed other outstanding proposals to make counters where possible, such as on management’s proposal to clean up seniority language. We are making progress at the table, but management has yet to address many of our most substantial proposals. Our next negotiation session is on February 2. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Jan. 12, 2026

Brigham Management Targets a Core Nurse Benefit

At today’s bargaining session, management put forward a proposal that would significantly increase premium costs for nurses enrolled in the Harvard Pilgrim health insurance plan. Their proposal seeks to undermine one of our most valued benefits. More than 2,000 Brigham nurses rely on this insurance coverage. The Harvard Pilgrim plan is also a key recruitment and retention tool. By offering high-quality, affordable insurance, the Brigham builds strong clinical expertise that ultimately helps some of the sickest patients in the region.

Management’s proposal comes after the hospital spent a year threatening nurses with tax penalties by refusing to make the plan compliant with state law.We agreed to increase some of the plan’s copays to address the compliance problem. Now management wants to shift substantial additional costs onto nurses. We strongly rejected these proposed increases. There is no world in which Brigham nurses would ever entertain this takeaway.

Management Proposal to Increase Harvard Community Health Plan RN Premiums

Individual Coverage

·       40 hours: 0% to 10%

·       30–39 hours: 5% to 10% (doubling costs)

·       20–29 hours: 10% to 20% (doubling costs)

Family Coverage

·       30–40 hours: 10% to 15%

·       20–29 hours: 20% to 30%

Other Topics Discussed

• Shift Differentials: We exchanged initial views on this topic with management. It will require further discussion in the context of both our proposals.
• CRNA bonus proposal: We agreed to meet at a future negotiation session with representatives from the CRNAs to discuss this proposal and other issues.
• Seniority: Management made revised counters to its proposal to “clean up” seniority language.
• Advisory: Management responded to our proposal to make advisory meetings more productive.
• Step Placement: Management offered a modified response to our proposal.
• Side Letters: Management agreed to keep some side letters in the contract but continues to propose deleting others. They made a proposal to revise the Voalte phone side letter to address new technology.

We meet next for negotiations on January 28. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Dec. 22, 2025

What Happened Today

At our most rent bargaining session, there was measurable movement at the table, with both sides exchanging proposals and responses.

We responded to management’s initial and secondary batch of proposals. We agreed to three proposals from management that do not materially impact nurses. On the remaining proposals, we either rejected them outright or indicated that further information and internal discussion are needed before responding.

Additionally, management responded to the proposals we put forward at the prior session. They countered some proposals and rejected others. Management said they are holding off on responding to several economic proposals until negotiations move more fully into economic issues such as wages. We spent time today in caucus discussing other proposals we may make as a committee. As always, we remain focused on protecting nurses’ rights, improving working conditions, and securing a fair contract with competitive compensation.

What’s Next

Although we have made early progress in negotiations, we expect friction in the months ahead. MGB is unlikely to simply agree to our most important proposals. While we may think of MGB as Scrooge, it is hard to believe that CEO Anne Klibanksi will be visited by three ghosts over the holidays and offer miraculous generosity to Brigham nurses. We must be prepared to organize and take action if necessary.

MGB has the resources to agree to our proposals. You may have noticed a Boston Globe story over the weekend about the system’s strong financial position. MGB made a $2.4 billion net margin last year, according to the Globe report, which highlights MGB’s enormous spending on construction and its investment gains. The power of our 4,000 members can make sure MGB invests in Brigham nurses and patients.

We meet next for negotiations on January 12. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Dec. 1, 2025

What Happened Today

During our second bargaining session, we made it clear to management why nurses are so frustrated. Our anger is not tied to one proposal or a single economic issue. Instead, it is rooted in years of unresolved or poorly handled problems that have eroded our trust in management and damaged our working relationship.

We highlighted examples such as a month-long delay just to approve donated time for a nurse caring for her husband; an insurance error that forced a nurse to scramble to avoid paying thousands of dollars to avoid losing coverage; schedules repeatedly disrupted; and the health insurance compliance issue dragging on for a year. Every time something takes weeks or months to resolve, nurses hear about it throughout the hospital and frustration spreads.

We also emphasized that we intentionally cut our proposals from about 45 last time to 27 this round of negotiations and came in with an initial lower wage ask than last time – not because nurses want less or will end up with less, but because we want to focus on core priorities and reach an agreement quickly.

We are in a battle every day to provide safe, quality care for our patients. We hope management will join with us in creating a better, more respectful partnership going forward.

What Was Proposed

View MNA Proposals Summary

View Management Proposals Summary

What’s Next

We will meet next for negotiations on December 22. If you have any issues or questions, contact a committee member or MNA Labor AD Sharanya Sridhar at ssridhar@mnarn.org.

MNA Negotiations Update: Nov. 18, 2025

What Happened Today

Today was our first bargaining session. We negotiated ground rules with management at the MNA office in Canton. Ground rules in union negotiations provide clear guidelines for both sides to help make the process fairer and more productive.

For example, our ground rules include hospital requirements around releasing RN bargaining committee members for negotiation sessions. Additional ground rules include both sides providing advanced notice for news media outreach, requirements related to the cancelation of bargaining sessions, and that tentative agreements on individual proposals will take effect when the overall contract agreement is reached and ratified.

One of our main goals in establishing ground rules is to ensure that our bargaining committee members are released from shifts to attend negotiations. Our entire team must be able to participate. Each of our bargaining committee members was elected by the 4,000 Brigham nurses to represent many different hospital units and the diverse perspectives of our members.

Ultimately, we secured strong ground rules that will enable us to effectively negotiate an excellent contract for all Brigham nurses. We also reached our first tentative agreement: The hospital will continue paying medical insurance benefits for Brigham nurses who were impacted by air quality issues in the 1990s.

What’s Next

We will meet next for negotiations on December 1 and begin exchanging contract proposals.

In addition to bargaining updates like these, we will provide additional information on our BWH MNA webpage at www.massnurses.org/BrighamNurses.

Ways to Stay Engaged

1. Join our private Facebook group, “The MNA Nurses of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.” Simply search for the group name on Facebook to apply to join. Your name will be checked against our membership list for approval.

2. Follow us on Instagram: bwhmna or Brigham MNA Nurses.

3. If you haven’t already, enter your contact information on our online signup page here: www.massnurses.org/BWHsignup.

Experiencing Unsafe Staffing?

• Document the shift to help us make a case for improved staffing and a better contract. Filing a report will also help protect your nursing license. Visit https://www.massnurses.org/bwhstaffing.