Brigham nurses threaten to strike. Paid $106,000 on average, demand more.

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And people wonder why there is so little sympathy for RNs who are striking and complain they aren't paid enough. They are literally in the top 5% of the earners in the country.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
He?! I am not a PA, no chip, and I am concerned about RNs putting their bank accounts ahead of patients. Comment on the content, please.

1. If you were "about to graduate" in March and in June you aren't a PA, that explains a lot.

2. The RN's are following their union orders and don't have much of any individual choice. It matter little their desire for more money (don't we all want more money?) and everything to to with what they have to do by union rules. Do you not have a union and in your extensive experience have you never worked for a union hospital?

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Information from two sources:

Background on Pivotal Issue in Brigham and Women's Hospital Talks: Safe Nurse Staffing for Critical Patients

... Inadequate nurse staffing is jeopardizing safe patient care. This is a key reason why Brigham nurses are willing to strike. They are fighting at the bargaining table for a restoration of nurse staffing in the area of the hospital where patients go to recover from lung transplants, heated chemotherapy and other serious thoracic procedures.

Nurses who work in this unit have told the hospital twice now across the bargaining table that their patients are suffering.

The nurses' request is simple: Restore nurse staffing levels to what they were last year. The hospital has refused. Management has admitted, however, that following the recent departure of nurses from the thoracic step-down unit, they did not replace the nurses. This created a shortage of specialized thoracic nurses and endangered patient care.

The hospital also admitted that instead of properly staffing the units, it moved nurses around the schedule, smoothing” over a serious problem rather than addressing it properly. This is emblematic of a wider concern among Brigham nurses. Staffing is a problem in units throughout the hospital. For example, management consistently breaks the new intensive care unit law that limits nurses to one or, at the most, two ICU patients...

Background on Pivotal Issue in Brigham and Women’s Hospital Talks: Safe Nurse Staffing for Critical Patients - News & Events - Massachusetts Nurses Association

Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses to hold strike vote

... The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are asking for more comprehensive insurance, more paid time off, higher wages and more staff in the thoracic intermediate-care unit. The nurses say the hospital recently admitted to reducing staff in the unit during the day to make up for a shortage at night.

The nurses claim the hospital offers fewer benefits to newly hired nurses and provides them with eight fewer days off per year and a health plan with higher premiums. The union also claims hospital administrators have said they'll hire 700 temporary nurses to provide patient care during a potential strike.

Brigham and Women's Hospital did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon....

- Modern Healthcare Modern Healthcare business news, research, data and events7

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It is not only B&W that pays well in Boston.

Having said that - when you work in Boston you live in or close to Boston and pay rent or have a high mortgage. When you live outside, you have long commutes and need to pay for parking / T/ and such.

And it is not like new grades are making 6 figures - that happens when you are experienced...

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Here's a median for you ;). And by the way no one said anything about a rockstar lifestyle. You know what they say about assuming ;)

Boston Massachusetts Household Income | Department of Numbers

If hospitals are no longer able to sustain the ever growing cost of RNs they will eventually replace those positions with LPNs :). Those RNs can strike all they want but keep in mind everyone is replaceable.One way or another

Sure, if they want lawsuits. The trend has been to eliminate LPN's from hospitals. You get rid of RN's, you're not going to replace them with LPN's.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

So nurses shouldn't want to bargain for more compensation? Their only concern should be patient safety?

It sounds like perhaps you feel that the nurses should be willing to work for pennies...as long as the patients are safe.

Any other industry, it's understood that you would like to negotiate the best salary for your work that you can get. But shame on nurses for doing it?

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

The pivotal issue is safe nurse staffing for critical patients:

https://allnurses.com/collective-bargaining-nursing/brigham-nurses-threaten-1057445-page3.html#post9094827

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No, I never wondered why there is so little sympathy for striking nurses.

Nursing is a business and I respect them for going for as much money as they can get.

Appears that YOU feel nurses should only strike for altruistic reasons, like safe ratios.

Making 6 figures is suweet.. and I deserve more.

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.
So nurses shouldn't want to bargain for more compensation? Their only concern should be patient safety?

It sounds like perhaps you feel that the nurses should be willing to work for pennies...as long as the patients are safe.

Any other industry, it's understood that you would like to negotiate the best salary for your work that you can get. But shame on nurses for doing it?

This. No one bats an eye at the exorbitant salaries commonplace in other professions (pro athletes, entertainers), but nurses are supposed to work for the good of mankind and that should be enough??? Nah...I have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and student loans to repay. It's also nice to take a vacation once in a while.

FWIW-I live in a suburb of Boston. It's not a fancy, wealthy town, but a decent middle class town. Average home price is over $500,000 and rents are about 900-1000 a month for a one bed room apartment. $100,000 a year is not living the glamorous life in Boston.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

Oh CTICU? Cardiothoracic stepdown? Oh HELLNAW. :grumpy::no: Those are my people, and some really complicated stepdown patients attached to every line known to man- pressors, heparin, insulin, chest tubes, NG tubes/ G and/or J tubes, epidurals, PCAs, cardiac monitors, antibiotics, Woundvac, pacer wires, JP drains, Foleys, sure I forgot some.

They need to get all the money they can!

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herring, i figured YOU would get to the bottom of it, lol. can you verify that "average" wage? and is it really base pay...

and does that include other than bedside care nurses...

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Specializes in Research & Critical Care.

From their Union - Brigham and Women's Hospital Nurses Vote 95% to Authorize Strike in Protest of BWH/Partners Health Care Valuing Corporate Profit Margins Ahead of Patients, Nurses

"The MNA's proposal is to ensure safe nurse staffing levels in the thoracic unit."

"The hospital is seeking to force all newly hired nurses into lesser benefit programs"

"Flex insurance is a hospital-controlled health insurance program not subject to bargaining. Six years ago, the hospital lured nurses in with low rates and then part-time nurses saw their premiums double to quadruple in just one year."

"The five highest paid Partners executives got a nearly $1.3 million combined pay hike from 2013 to 2014, equaling a 23 percent increase in salaries."

Staffing and benefits seem legit to me. Regarding wages, IMO if they're going to cut staffing at least throw them some money to compensate for it. Especially if that number is correct and the guys at the top are getting raises that are into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

I sincerely doubt OP was ever looking for a true debate though, considering that every post OP has made on AN has me convinced they're a soon-to-graduate PA with some complex that really should be evaluated.

I am about to graduate from PA school.

NPs utilize more resources than PAs or MDs as a result of their inferior training and lack of preparation for the autonomous practice of medicine.

The didactic and clinical training for PAs exceeds that of any FNP program

Being that FNP education lacks this basic skill I will always be careful to never have an FNP assess me or anyone I love and care about for anything remotely related to their lungs.
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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

Boston as a whole is 60% above the national average cost of living.

Boston as a whole is 50% above the national median income. (proportionally more of that goes to taxes)

The neighborhood around Brigham (Brookline) has a median income of $110K.

RNs typically make more than the median income.

So maybe they are underpaid...

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