After October’s one-day strike and lockout, Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and unionized nurses will go back to the bargaining table Tuesday.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Berkshire Medical Center ownership have been at a contract impasse for more than a year. The hospital contends it made its “best and final” contract offer in May.
The nurses’ union has held informational pickets outside BMC in October and November to generate support from the community for what it calls “safe patient care improvements.”
Berkshire Health Systems CEO David Phelps told WAMC after the one-day strike he doesn’t see an end in sight.
“I have no prediction as to where and how it ends. It could be a breakthrough in days, months, who knows?” Phelps says. “And I don’t think it’s done, you know, I think it’s the new normal.”
The nurses planned a vigil outside BMC Monday night before Tuesday’s bargaining session.
