WORCESTER, Mass. - Hundreds of St. Vincent Hospital nurses are in their fourth week of a strike and the union representing the nurses said the hospital‘s owner is spending millions of dollars to keep it going.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association [MNA] said Tenet Healthcare is spending $30,000 a day on Worcester Police details and installed high tech cameras systems outside the hospital entrances.
The MNA said Tenet will spend more than $22 million to prolong the strike.
But, St. Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson said these things are being done to keep both the striking nurses and people who are entering the hospital safe.
"The nurses are the ones who chose to strike and they are forcing us to spend the money to ensure the hospital stays open and that we're able to continue to provide excellent care for our patients and maintain our full scope of services. If they want us to stop spending the money, then they should come back to the table with a more reasonable proposal,” Jackson said in an interview on Monday.
"Imagine the care that could be given at the bedside with that amount of money, the millions of dollars they are taking to prolong the strike to keep their own nurses out on the street, while our patients go without needed medications given on time, pain assessment, not being fed on time," said MNA nurse Marlena Pellegrino.
Nurses began the open-ended strike against Tenet on March 8 over staffing concerns.