At 6:00 a.m. on Monday, March 8, 800 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts began an open-ended strike. This is the first strike at the hospital in 20 years by nurses. They are members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association and have been working without a contract since 2019. St. Vincent nurses are demanding improved staffing ratios because the current ratio of 5 patients to 1 nurse on medical-surgical floors is unsafe, leading to preventable complications, injuries and deaths. Nurses want the ratio set to 4 to 1. The staffing ratio has been their main concern since contract negotiations began in November 2019.
— source wsws.org | 9 Mar 2021