In light of the strike, the hospital brought in replacement workers, but other full-time nurses still working say they have provided inadequate care and neglected patients, according to the MNA. The association is asking the DPH to investigate two sentinel events that occurred after the hospital CEO closed beds and services needed to help patients. It says the move is an attempt to end the strike, which has gone on since March due to disputes in negotiations between the nurses and Tenet Healthcare, the parent company of Saint Vincent.

Nurses have filed a total of eleven unfair labor practices against Tenet for its actions prior to and throughout the strike, including making unlawful threats to striking nurses and engaging in retaliation and discrimination. They also accused it of promising benefits to non-strikers and of bad faith bargaining tactics.

The main issue in the dispute is patient conditions, with nurses accusing the hospital of creating an unsafe environment with poor working conditions and inadequate staffing during the pandemic that resulted in a mass exodus of 100 nurses. They also said that personal protective equipment like protective gowns was sufficiently supplied, with some nurses donning trash bags. This led to hundreds of nurses becoming infected with the virus, according to the Framingham Source.

A proposed deal to end the strike fell through in August due to Tenet demanding that nurses accept an unprecedented and punitive back to work provision and to retract all unfair labor practice charges. The nurses objected to the retraction, saying that a negotiated resolution to such charges must be included in a final Return to Work Agreement. They also feared that replacing highly skilled nurses with less qualified ones would undermine any patient safety improvements specified in the agreement.

Both Mayor Joe Petty and city councilor and chair of Public Health Sarai Rivera have called out Tenet for its actions, as have unions and the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation in letters to Tenet CEO Dr. Saum Sutaria. Tenet’s approach violates long accepted standards for the conclusion of a work stoppage and jeopardizes the safety of the patients who will be subject to care from more inexperienced replacement staff,” wrote the delegation “Of more concern is Tenet’s decision to purposefully close desperately needed beds and eliminate services as a punitive ploy to force the nurses to end their strike, using patients and our communities as pawns in their anti-union strategy.”

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