Saint Vincent Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson said there couldn't be a worse time for nurses to potentially go on strike.

She said, "We think it's very irresponsible to even be talking about a strike during a global pandemic, even though the vaccine is on the horizon. We don't want to do anything to shake the public's confidence in the health care system."

For more than two months, nurses have picketed outside the Worcester hospital, calling out concerns over staffing and unsafe working conditions.

It led to Wednesday's strike authorization vote.

Massachusetts Nurses Association Vice President Marie Ritacco said, "It means that the membership, the 800 nurses in the building, would give the committee the authority to use a strike as basically leverage at the table."

The MNA and Tenet Healthcare are at odds over a new contract.

The negotiations have taken more than a year so far. 

Ritacco said, "Essentially, they're caring for too many patients at one time. Then the pandemic hit, and a terrible situation became markedly worse."

"Nurses are just desolate and desperate to have more help," said Dominique Muldoon, a registered nurse.

Jackson said nurses are demanding a four to one nurse-patient staffing ratio, but said state voters shot down specific staffing ratios with a ballot question in 2018.

Jackson said, "We believe that the best way to address staffing and the holes at Saint Vincent right now is to have that great benefit and wage proposal."

Muldoon said, "We know what we need to do our jobs. We know what we need to take care of patients."

The two sides are currently scheduled to resume negotiations this Thursday, February 11. If the nurses union ever got to a point where they issued a notice to strike, the hospital will have a minimum of 10 days before one would begin.