Picketing took place on Maple Street. Barry Kriger, WWLP, November 28, 2011 Springfield - Nurses at Baystate's Visiting Nurse Association picketed, on Maple Street Monday night, against what they claim are "union-busting" tactics. In a statement sent to 22News, the Massachusetts Nurses Association claims Baystate "set the tone for contract negotiations" when they hired a national law firm known for anti-union representation. Viola McCoy, a registered nurse at Baystate VNA, told 22News, “We want to be able to come to work and take care of our patients, but we also want a fair contract now.

After twelve months of negotiations, RNs fight to keep collective bargaining rights. 
Massachusetts Nurses Association, November 28, 2011 Springfield - After twelve months of fruitless negotiations, the registered nurses of the Baystate Visiting Nurses Association (BVNA) are picketing two sites, today and tomorrow, to inform the community of their employer’s anti-union tactics and their failure to engage in good faith negotiations over key issues, including wages and the nurses’ health insurance benefit. “As these negotiations have gone on it has become clear to us that Baystate management is attempting to bust our union by taking away our rights to negotiate ..." Nurses

Tracy Jan, Boston Globe, November 3, 2011

Washington – More than 150 Massachusetts nurses will join hundreds of other protesters outside the US Treasury Department this morning to urge President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to support a financial transaction tax on Wall Street.

The protest is timed to coincide with the start of the G-20 Summit of world leaders in Cannes, France, where nurses from Australia, Ireland, France, Korea, and the United States - including a delegation from National Nurses United - will also be demonstrating.

Massachusetts Nurses Association, October 31, 2011 Crowds of outraged nurses, health care professionals (HCPs) and health care activists picketed outside the corporate headquarters of Cerberus/Steward Health Care Systems on October 28 to protest the company’s shameless pattern of breaking its promises and employing oppressive management practices that harm patients and those who care for them.

 For more than a year the MNA nurses and HCPs who work at eight area hospitals have been under the management of Cerberus/Steward, a multi-billion dollar, private equity firm. ... Crowds

Steward, nurses in pension squabble. Steven Syre, Boston Globe, October 28, 2011 ... What a difference a year makes. Tomorrow, Steward Health Care and the union representing most of its nurses might celebrate the one-year anniversary of a ratification vote that seemed to guarantee labor peace for five years. But don’t count on it. Instead, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is planning to demonstrate today outside Steward’s headquarters on Boylston Street, highlighting its beef over a key benefit of the contract signed last year - a new defined-benefit pension plan.

Julie M. Donnelly, Boston Business Journal, October 28, 2011 Nurses and other health care workers from several of the hospitals owned by the for-profit Steward Health Care, plan to protest outside the company's Boston headquarters today at 1:30. They include nurses from Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Brighton, Norwood Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Quincy Medical Center, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill. Nurses argue that Steward, owned by New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, has not honored agreements ... Steward

Will tell for-profit giant to honor its commitments and end culture of corporate greed that harms nurses and their patients. Massachusetts Nurses Association, October 27, 2011 Outraged MNA nurses and health professionals from eight hospitals owned and operated by Cerberus/Steward Health Care will gather outside the for-profit giant's corporate headquarters in Boston on Friday, October 28 at 1:30 PM to tell Steward leadership that it must honor its commitments, keep its promises and put an end to oppressive practices that harm nurses/health professionals and the patients under their care at Cerberus/Steward hospitals ... Outraged

Staffing 'to our needs' reflects some lower demand.
Bob Kievra, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, October 20, 2011

Worcester - Saint Vincent Hospital said tonight it has eliminated 117 jobs, putting about 60 people out of work. With the reductions, which took effect immediately, the hospital is employing 1,800, the same number it had two years ago, officials said. The hospital said the cuts were in response to fewer diagnostic procedures, laboratory work and elective surgeries.

“We're seeing a slowdown and responded to it,” said spokesman Dennis L. Irish. “It's unfortunate and regrettable.”

Delegation of Nurses Deliver Supplies to Lake Park Site of Protest. Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 20, 2011 Nurses, who every day care for the casualties of the economic crisis driven by Wall Street greed, are standing in solidarity with and offering their support to the new Occupy Worcester protest. On Tuesday night a delegation of nurses from hospitals and other facilities in central Massachusetts, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United paid a visit to the Occupy Worcester site and delivered  blankets, tarps, flashlights, firewood, coffee and donuts to protesters. ... MNA

Seniors in hospital gowns revealing oversized plastic backsides with signs that read “Keep Seniors Covered.” Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 19, 2011 Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United (MNA/NNU) joined dozens of outraged seniors yesterday for a demonstration outside the offices of the Massachusetts Hospital Association to protest the industry’s recently announced campaign to push Congress to raise the age for Medicare eligibility from age 65 to 67. The event featured dozens of seniors in hospital gowns, opened in the back to reveal oversized plastic backsides, with signs that read “Keep Seniors Covered.” ... MNA

Delegation of Nurses to Deliver Supplies Tonight at 8 PM. Nurses Support Efforts to Hold Wall Street Accountable for Devastation Caused on Main Street. Massachusetts Nurses Association, October 18, 2011 Worcester - Nurses, who every day care for the casualties of the economic crisis driven by Wall Street greed, are standing in solidarity with and offering their support to the new Occupy Worcester protest. Tonight, a delegation of nurses from hospitals and other facilities in Central Massachusetts ... MNA

Resolution #1 of the Massachusetts Nurses Association annual business meeting, October 6, 2011, passed overwhelmingly:

Whereas, working people and the poor face an historic unemployment crisis and the danger of the deepest cuts in decades in federal spending of essential social services; and

Whereas, there is a desperate need for major resources to be directed toward a large federal program of public works to create jobs; and

Whereas, polls such as the September 15th New York Times/CBS News poll show that 80% of Americans would support a program of federal spending on infrastructure like bridges, airports and schools as a means to create jobs; and

Paul Garver, Talking Union, October 7, 2011 Six buses of nurses from the National Nurses Union (sic) joined the Occupy Boston action in support on October 5. They brought their Main Street Contract message of Tax Wall Street to Heal America to the occupation. Keynote speaker Cornel West invoked the continuing of the current protests with the great democratic upheavals in the USA and in the world. ... Nurses

Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 7, 2011 Video

Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 5, 2011 Video