David Williams provided context on nurses’ demands in the Boston Globe.
Hospitals are the biggest driver of health care costs, MGB is the biggest contributor in Massachusetts, labor is MGB's biggest expense, and nurses are the largest part of the workforce. So the results of this stand-off have direct implications for healthcare affordability in the state.
Ironically, one of the issues the nurses are fighting over is their own healthcare costs.
The nurses are understandably steamed that management turned their recent one-day strike into a five-day lockout without giving the nurses anything. So if the union wants to take its battle forward it seems to think escalation is the best path.
In countdown to Brigham strike on Oct. 14, nurses union and MGB prepare for long-lasting upheaval
David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group, a Boston management consulting firm, said a strike isn’t always financially disastrous for a hospital — and the public may be surprised to learn how well the nurses are paid.
“Replacement nurses are expensive but may not be more expensive than Brigham’s permanent staff,” he said. “MGB is betting it can absorb the pain longer than the nurses can go without paychecks.”
