Framingham Union Nurses To Drop Banner As Union Efforts Continue

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Massachusetts Nurses Association officials with connections to the unionization efforts at Framingham Union Hospital said a National Labor Relations Board election date should be set in the very near future.

In the meantime, nurses at Framingham Union Hospital are set to hold a banner drop on Tuesday evening outside City Hall in hopes to raise public awareness and advocacy about their efforts.

Nurses at the hospital filed an election petition with the NLRB in September and sent a letter to MetroWest Medical Center CEO John Whitlock, Jr., sharing their decision and asking him to voluntarily recognize the union.

Whitlock and other officials did not respond to the request, according to MNA officials.

Roughly 280 nurses are eligible to be part of the union, and officials said that a "supermajority" signed on to the idea.

“An overwhelming majority of Registered Nurses at Framingham Union Hospital have decided that we would like to have a real and independent voice on all decisions that affect us, the work we do and the patients we take care of,” the nurses wrote in their letter to the CEO. “We would like to be real partners with you in setting priorities for our workplace and ensuring a healthy future for Framingham.”

The main themes nurses have identified for why they are joining the MNA include:

Framingham Union is owned by Tenet Health, which also owns Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester as part of MetroWest Medical Center.

Nurses in Worcester ended a strike in early 2022 after 301 days after similar efforts. It took more than two years of negotiating before a new contract was approved.

One thing that could be working in the favor of the nurses in Framingham is public and diplomatic support.

According to an earlier Patch report, every member of Congress from Massachusetts supported the nurses during the contract negotiations in Worcester.

"Tonight’s vote is an historic victory for the heroic nurses at St. Vincent who refused to budge until they secured the protections and staffing conditions their patients deserve," U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Fitchburg, said in a news release at the time.

In Worcester, the nurses' main goal during the strike was to increase staffing levels across all parts of the hospital. The hospital agreed to reduce the number of patients assigned to each nurse in many areas.