St. Vincent Hospital Nurses Vote to Keep Their Union with the Massachusetts Nurses Association

Vote ensures they'll keep their contract, which was ratified in January following the longest nurses strike in Massachusetts history.

St. Vincent Hospital nurses, who staged a historic 301-day strike for more staffing and better patient care, have voted to keep their union and representation by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA).

The final vote was tallied Monday at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) offices in Boston, with 302 voting to keep the union and 133 voting to decertify.

With this vote, they'll keep their new contract, which they had ratified on January 3 following their strike, according to the MNA.

The vote was held after St. Vincent Hospital nurses filed a petition with the NLRB to decertify the nurses' union—a move backed by the National Right to Work Foundation and the hospital's CEO Carolyn Jackson.

"The honor and integrity of our union is strong, as the St. Vincent nurses have reaffirmed our right to maintain a powerful voice in our advocacy for our patients and our work life," said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a longtime St. Vincent nurse and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the MNA. "We now look forward to working with all our colleagues to truly begin the healing process and to build a positive future for St. Vincent Hospital."

"We are proud of our union and the great contract we have built over the last 22 years—a contract that provides our nurses with a strong voice to ensure optimum patient care, and which protects and rewards all nurses at the hospital for the contributions they make to the success of, this, our community hospital," Pellegrino said.

The petition to decertify the union was filed with the NLRB shortly after the nurses reached a tentative agreement on their new contract on December 17.

Secret ballots were mailed to nurses by the NLRB on February 4, and the nurses had until Feb. 25 to return their ballots to the NLRB.