220+ community members signed a petition urging Noble Hospital and Baystate VNA to settle contracts with nurses and healthcare professionals to help provide improved patient care and working conditions

WESTFIELD, Mass., July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Baystate Noble Hospital and clinicians at Baystate Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will deliver a petition signed by more than 220 community members on Friday, July 12 to Baystate Health Board of Trustees Member Robert Bacon at his business in Westfield.

"We, as community members, stand with Baystate Noble Hospital nurses and Baystate VNA clinicians seeking to ensure safe patient care through improved working conditions and investment in their healthcare workforce," according to the petition. "Baystate is a non-profit healthcare organization with an obligation to provide community members with access to local, quality care."

Community Petition Delivery Information
Time: 2 p.m.
Date: Friday, July 12
Location: 68 Union Street, Westfield (the corporate HQ of Elm Electric, the company led by Robert Bacon)

The community petition details wage disparities between Noble Hospital nurses and other Western Mass nurses and explains, "Noble nurses and Baystate VNA clinicians are struggling with burnout and moral injury due to unsafe staffing that is jeopardizing patient safety. A combination of poor working conditions and non-competitive wages has prompted many nurses to look for work elsewhere and has impeded recruitment efforts."

Wage disparities harming recruitment and retention:

• • Nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center make $6.20 more per hour at the top of their wage step scale and $3.92 per hour more at the bottom of the scale than Noble nurses.
  • Nurses at Berkshire Medical Center make $13.69 more per hour at the top and $10.46 more per hour at the bottom than Noble nurses.
  • Nurses at Cooley Dickinson Hospital make $10.48 more per hour at the top and $4.86 more per hour at the bottom than Noble nurses.
  • Nurses at Mercy Medical Center make $6.28 more per hour at the top and $6.33 more per hour at the bottom than Noble nurses.

In May, Noble nurses delivered their own petition to hospital management signed by nearly 100% of hospital nurses. Despite multiple negotiation sessions since the petition delivery, management has failed to propose a contract that addresses the nurses' concerns.

Issues raised by the nurses include:

• Unsafe staffing levels are jeopardizing patient safety and exacerbating nurse burnout. Baystate must prioritize investments in Noble nursing staff to ensure quality patient care and reduce the physical and emotional strain on nurses.
• Noble's struggles with hiring and keeping nurses at the hospital long-term must be resolved. When nurses do not feel properly respected or valued, they look elsewhere, especially when the working environment is so hazardous and difficult.
• Stagnant wages undermine our vital role in patient care. Nurses urge Baystate to agree to fair and competitive wages that reflect the dedication and expertise of Noble nurses.

Baystate Health made $35.9 million in profits during the fiscal year-to-date period ending December 31, 2023, according to the latest reporting by the Center for Health Information and Analysis. Noble Hospital individually was profitable as well during that period.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 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