Management at a western Massachusetts hospital is taking steps to try to block a one-day strike called by unionized nurses in a bitter contract dispute.
Baystate Franklin Medical Center has asked the federal Labor Relations Board to prohibit the Massachusetts Nurses Association from going ahead with the planned strike at the Greenfield hospital on Monday June 26th
Failing that, hospital president Cindy Russo said they plan to lock-out the 200 union nurses and staff the hospital with temporary nurses between Sunday night June 25th - Wednesday June 28.
" Our commitment is to take care of our patients and our community and so we will be operational to be able to do that," said Russo Wednesday.
The union called the strike because it said there had been no movement in contract talks where the key issues are health insurance benefits, staffing levels, and working conditions.
