Unionized nurses at Boston Medical Center are protesting a new round of job cuts, following a hospital decision to shut down an acute-injury rehabilitation unit on July 1.
Overall, the Boston University teaching hospital will eliminate nearly 40 positions, including 31 full-time equivalent positions at the rehab unit and about nine others from closing beds and converting double rooms to single rooms at the hospital’s Newton Pavilion.
With more than 300 open positions at the hospital, however, Boston Medical Center officials said many of the nurses and therapists whose jobs are being cut may be reassigned.
David Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents unionized nurses at the South End hospital, said Boston Medical Center officials have refused to take seriously union proposals to ease the impact of the job cuts, such as offering early retirement incentives for older nurses and training programs to help younger nurses move to other jobs.
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