Nurses call for safe staffing, competitive wages, and affordable health insurance as MGB refuses to equitably invest in community hospital
NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Sept. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The registered nurses of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), have announced they will hold a one-day strike authorization vote on Thursday, October 9. The vote comes as nurses confront unsafe staffing conditions, uncompetitive wages, and potential hikes to health insurance costs, while Cooley’s owner, Mass General Brigham (MGB), continues to make enormous profits and pays its executives millions in annual compensation.
Strike Authorization Vote Details
- Date: Thursday, October 9, 2025
- Time: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- More Details: Contact Joe Markman, MNA Associate Director of Communications, 781-571-8175, [email protected]
The scheduled vote follows a high-turnout informational picket Cooley nurses held in June. A yes vote by Cooley nurses would not necessarily mean nurses will strike but would give their elected bargaining committee the authority to hold a one-day strike following the issuance of a legally required 10-day notice.
“MGB is the wealthiest hospital system in New England, and yet is refusing to provide the resources Cooley nurses and patients need,” said Rosie Tottser, Cooley Dickinson RN and MNA Committee Co-Chair. “We are seeking enforceable staffing protections, competitive pay, and affordable health insurance to protect our patients, retain nurses, and sustain our hospital.”
“Our strike authorization vote will show MGB that Cooley nurses are truly united,” said Aaron Winston, Cooley Dickinson RN and MNA Committee Co-Chair. “If MGB can pay its CEO more than $8 million in a single year, it can invest in Cooley nurses and our patients. We will demonstrate loud and clear that our community hospital deserves much better than what MGB is proposing.”
What Cooley Nurses Are Seeking
- Safe Staffing: Enforceable staffing grids to address nurse burnout, turnover, and patient safety. MGB refuses to agree to these protections and has failed to address the emergency department staffing crisis, even while expanding the Cooley ED.
- Competitive Wages: Cooley nurses make up to $15/hour less than peers at UMass Memorial for the same experience, and far less than nurses at other MGB hospitals who recently won raises. This wage gap fuels turnover and threatens safe patient care.
- Affordable Health Insurance: MGB wants to replace Cooley nurses’ current insurance plans with three MGB plans that come with higher out-of-pocket costs and potential severe future increases in premium costs. Under management’s proposal, premium costs could skyrocket because they would be tied to non-union costs without any contractual protection. MGB also wants to redefine full-time from 30 to 36 hours, which would negatively impact many nurses. Nurses are fighting for enforceable protections for premium splits and 30-hour full-time eligibility.
MGB Financial Background
- MGB CEO Anne Klibanski made $8.4M in FY2023 (the latest year available) – a 40% raise in one year – including $4.3 million in bonuses, according to the Boston Globe.
- From 2018 to 2023, MGB executives and key employees made $819 million in total salary. They made a combined $100 million in bonuses, according to MGB filings.
- Cooley Dickinson alone reported $9.7 million in profit in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024 according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).
- According to the Boston Globe, “the MGB system found itself $2 billion richer in the year ending in September [2024], almost doubling the $1.2 billion net margin the system reported the year prior.”
- MGB is spending $2 billion expanding Massachusetts General Hospital and Faulkner Hospital while proposing cuts for frontline caregivers in Western Massachusetts.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 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.
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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
