UMMC nurses rally against pay cuts, unit’s closing
By Martin Luttrell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
mluttrell@telegram.com
UMass Memorial nurses, joined by nurses from other area hospitals and other cities, rally at the Belmont Street campus. The woman with the loudspeaker is Wendy McGill, representing the Massachusetts Nurses Association. (T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS)
WORCESTER — Hundreds of nurses from the UMass Memorial Medical Center system staged a boisterous rally and demonstration in front of the Belmont Street Memorial campus yesterday to protest what they contend are unsafe staffing levels, hospital demands for pay and benefit cuts and the planned closing of a medical-surgical unit at Memorial.
The nurses, who were joined by others from across Massachusetts and other states who were in the city attending a convention at the DCU Center, want pay parity with nurses at the University campus, and said the staffing levels the hospital wants would prevent them from delivering quality care.
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