A federal mediator has been called in to assist with the DFCI – MV nurses’ negotiations for a first MNA contract as DFCI refuses to provide adequate pay and benefits
METHUEN, Mass. – The registered nurses of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Merrimack Valley, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will hold an informational picket on Friday, June 2 after calling in a federal mediator to help resolve negotiations in which DFCI refuses to help ensure high-quality patient care by agreeing to a fair nurse contract.
Informational Picket Details
Date: Friday, June 2, 2023
Time: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location: Outside Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Merrimack Valley at 5 Branch St., Methuen, MA.
Details: Nurses who care for oncology patients at DFCI – MV voted to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association in July 2022 to secure a protected voice in all decisions impacting their work
and nursing practice. Nurses are seeking fair pay and equal benefits as DFCI Boston nurses, allowing DFCI – MV to maintain the nurses necessary to provide critical patient care.
“Our nurses are dedicated to our patients and play a key role in providing advanced cancer and blood disorder treatments,” said Kerrin Albert, Infusion RN at DFCI – MV. “A fair nurse contract will give us a stronger voice in ensuring safe patient care conditions and the pay and benefits we need to retain the highly qualified nurses DFCI – MV needs.”
“Dana-Farber has refused to compensate Merrimack Valley nurses appropriately for the complex oncology care we provide and the commitment we show to our patients,” said Kate Mitchell, FNP-BC, AOCNP at DFCI – MV. “Our clinic will lose nurses to other oncology centers – and patients will find it harder to receive the care they deserve – if Dana-Farber does not listen to its nurses and agree to a fair and reasonable contract.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that nurses are in high demand because of the important direct patient care we provide and the challenges we face providing that care,” said Errin D’Arcangelo, Oncology Nurse Navigator at DFCI – MV. “If Dana-Farber is unwilling to provide the benefits and retirement protections nurses need, they will look elsewhere. We can defy cancer together if Dana-Farber nurses caring for patients are respected and appreciated.”
DFCI – MV opened in 2020 with 24 exam rooms and 32 infusion bays. The location offers expanded cancer and blood disorder care and outpatient services for adult patients in the region.
The MNA is the largest union and professional organization of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts. It represents more than 25,000 members in healthcare facilities across the state, including nurses at 70 percent of the Commonwealth’s acute care hospitals. The MNA is led by a board of directors that is directly elected by its membership and consists of frontline nurses and healthcare professionals.
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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.
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