Nurses at Tufts Medical Center represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association have issued a notice to the hospital that they plan to picket outside the hospital on Nov. 2, the union said in a statement.
The notice stands as of Monday, when the union's negotiating committee met with hospital leadership for their 44th session since the nurses' contract expired on July 30, 2016. It will be the 10th session since the nurses staged a one-day strike in July that also resulted in a four-day lockout, the union said.
[Also: Tufts Medical Center nurses holding one-day strike, last-minute talks fail to reach agreement]
According to the union, the nurses will picket outside the hospital's main entrance for two hours from 5 to 7 p.m. the night of November 2, to bring attention to the long-running negotiations, which mostly hinge on staffing, wage and pension benefit issues.
The union said nurses had proposed a phased-in freeze of their defined benefit pension plan at the end of December, if the hospital would add three years of service to the account of each participating nurse, with match of up to four to come in 2021. Those not participating would see an increase in the contribution rate of the hospital of 1 to 2 percent.
"We countered with this compromise because management identified the pension as their cornerstone issue, and we hoped it would result in progress on our remaining issues: staffing and market-competitive wages. We were wrong," said bargaining unit co-chair and OR nurse Mary Cornacchia, "
With that plan, union asked that some of the savings they said would result be rolled into increased wages. They also are arguing for staffing increases during peak hours, but said the hospital's proposal has not been clear-cut.
"The Medical Center has made numerous enhancements to our proposals and together we have been making progress toward an agreement. It is unfortunate that the MNA wishes to continue this conflict by issuing a picket notice. We are back at the table today bargaining in good faith to create a fair contract for our nurses and the Medical Center."
[Also: Allina Health spent $105 million on two nurses' strikes in 2016, system says]
While both sides dig their heels in, it's worth noting that strikes can come with hefty price tags. Allina Health said it costs the system almost $105 million over its two nurses strikes in 2016. Spokesman David Kanihan said that included costs for a seven-day strike in June, and a later one where nurses walked off the job on Labor Day and didn't return until mid-October. The figure did not include expenditures that October, the first two weeks of which nurses were still on strike.
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Kanihan said Allina spent $20 million for more than 1,200 replacement nurses for the June strike, as well as $84 million for the September segment of the second strike. The costs included the transporting out-of-state nurses, as well as training, housing and local transportation.
He said that on average, the strike cost the system about $20 million a week, and called the situation "regrettable," but worthwhile because the end result was a "more sustainable cost structure for insurance benefits."