Brigham and Women’s Hospital Nursing Union Negotiations

This means that the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which represents BWH nurses, has provided the hospital with notice of their intent to hold a nursing strike on Wednesday, July 8. Brigham nurses cannot work during a strike. We have comprehensive emergency preparedness plans that we will implement to ensure high-quality, safe patient care. This includes bringing on qualified, temporary nurses, many of whom practice at leading academic medical centers across the country, who will be integrated with our care teams and provide safe patient care throughout the work stoppage.

The work stoppage is expected to last for five days beginning July 8 and until July 13 at 7:00 a.m. This enables us to ensure continuity of patient care once we bring in qualified, temporary nursing staff, while meeting their contractual requirement of at least five days of work.

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital main campus and ambulatory locations will be impacted. Care and operations will mostly continue as normal. We would anticipate more vehicle and pedestrian traffic due to union activity.

The hospital will remain open with highly skilled temporary nursing staff ready to provide you with the care you need. Many of the nurses practice regularly at leading academic medical centers across the country. If there are any changes to your scheduled appointment, care teams will contact you directly.

The hospital and the union have been bargaining since November 2025. To date, we have reached tentative agreements on 16 issues.

Our nurses are central to our mission and to the care we provide every day. We deeply respect their skill, compassion, and contributions to our patients, families, and community. We remain committed to providing competitive pay and strong benefits to support our nurses, as demonstrated by our position at the top 10% of the market for nursing compensation at acute care hospitals, both locally and nationally.

Our proposal ensures we maintain the nurses’ market-leading compensation through:

• Continued annual 5% pay increases as part of nurses’ 20-step pay scale, and additional pay increases or bonuses for nurses who have reached the top step and no longer receive the 5% increases.
• Continued investment in premium pay, professional development, and other supports and continuity of generous health benefits.

Nurses should check bwhnursingupdates.com for updates throughout the work stoppage, including important information before returning to work on Monday, July 13.