NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – The registered nurses of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), will hold an informational picket on Tuesday, June 3 to call attention to hospital owner Mass General Brigham’s (MGB) refusal to invest in the nurses and the long-term health of the community hospital. During ongoing contract negotiations, MGB has failed to address the serious challenges facing patient care and the nursing workforce.
Informational Picket Details
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Speaking portion at approximately 4:15 p.m.)
Location: Outside Cooley Dickinson Hospital at 30 Locust St., Northampton, MA
Details: This informational picket is not a strike. Nurses can attend while off-duty or on break. Family, friends, and community members are encouraged to join in solidarity to support quality care and a strong local hospital.
“We are raising our voices for our patients, our colleagues, and our community,” said Rosie Tottser, Cooley Dickinson RN and MNA Committee Co-Chair. “Mass General Brigham has refused to address unsafe staffing that is negatively impacting patients and nurses. At the same time, MGB is refusing to offer a competitive wage increase and is proposing health benefit cuts. MGB’s approach to bargaining is harming Cooley’s ability to recruit and retain the nurses needed to provide safe patient care. Our community deserves better.”
“Cooley nurses are being asked to do more with less every day while MGB pours billions into construction projects and millions into executive pay,” said Aaron Winston, Cooley Dickinson RN and MNA Committee Co-Chair. “We are proud to serve our patients, but we need MGB to show the same level of commitment to us and to the future of this hospital.”
What Nurses Are Seeking
- Competitive Wages: Unlike nurses at other regional hospitals, Cooley RNs have received no wage proposal from MGB. Amid rising costs and a competitive healthcare labor market, this inaction undermines recruitment and retention and therefore patient safety.
- Safe Staffing: Nurses are calling for enforceable staffing improvements to protect patients and prevent RN burnout. MGB has refused to address these concerns.
- Protection of Benefits: MGB is proposing to reclassify some nurses from full-time to part-time, stripping them of full-time health coverage and increasing their out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
- Long-Term Investment in the Hospital: Years of underinvestment have left nurses and community members questioning MGB’s commitment to Cooley Dickinson’s future as a true community hospital.
MGB Financial Background
- MGB’s CEO made more than $6 million in a single year.
- The system reported $20.6 billion in operating revenue in 2024.
- Cooley Dickinson alone reported $9.7 million in profit in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024 according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).
- According to the Boston Globe, “the MGB system found itself $2 billion richer in the year ending in September [2024], almost doubling the $1.2 billion net margin the system reported the year prior.”
- MGB is spending $2 billion expanding Massachusetts General Hospital and Faulkner Hospital while proposing cuts for frontline caregivers in Western Massachusetts.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
