Tufts nurses strike puts Democrats in political pickle
Bay State Democrats will be faced with a political conundrum when they weigh in on an impending nurses strike at Tufts Medical Center that is bringing together two issues close to their hearts: supporting working families impacted by soaring health care costs and fighting for union labor, analysts say.
“When costs for hospitals go up, the cost for health care goes up. While the politicians supporting the unions because the unions turn around and support them is good politically, it’s clearly a contradiction,” Boston-based Republican strategist Brad Marston said. “They’re doing it while they don’t have a full year budget because MassHealth is taking up 50 percent of our budget — it sounds to me like they are trying to have it both ways.”
In a statement yesterday, Tufts nurses announced they’ve told the hospital they will go on strike July 12 after a monthslong negotiation over a new contract stalled last month. In a statement, Mary Havlicek Cornacchia, an OR nurse and bargaining unit co-chairwoman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said, “we’ve been trying to get them to listen to us and they’re just not listening.”
Cornacchia said the union expects to return to the bargaining table Friday.
The association, which represents about 1,200 registered nurses at the Hub hospital, has been pushing for increased staffing and pay raises and voted last month to reject a $30 million package that would’ve given 60 percent of nurses a 10.5 percent raise through 2020. The hospital has said it can’t afford to increase pay beyond what it called its best and final offer.
Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/07/tufts_nurses_strike_puts_democrats_in_political_pickle
The concern from the writers at The Boston Herald is duly noted. 