GREENFIELD — As the sun set quietly over the western hills Friday night, the Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s three-day nurses lockout was set to wind down the same way.
This week saw the second strike in 10 months by the Greenfield nurses at Baystate Franklin, which started out Tuesday with flared tempers after four Greenfield police officers prevented union head Donna Stern from entering the building at the start of the lockout. But Friday evening seemed like it was wrapping up more quietly.
The nurses — after displaying a 10-foot tall inflatable “Fat Cat” on High Street Friday afternoon, labeled with a mock identification badge of Baystate Health’s CEO Mark Keroack — were met by eight security officers, including a mix of hospital and Greenfield police staff, as hospital staff and administration peered through windows at the crowd headed their way.
Unlike in the last strike in June, there was no loud arguing between the nurses and security staff about their right to go in this time. Stern and fellow union leader Jillian Cycz led the way for their fellow nurses, again with a relative lightness in the air.
The hospital, as previously, had locked out the nurses a day before and a day after their one-day strike over stalled contract talks.
A few dozen nurses and supporters applauded this seemingly peaceful end to the lockout, which began Tuesday evening. Then, one after another, nurses were checked in at a table set up outside the hospital entrance, which was surrounded by barricades branded with “TSA” and a host of caution tape; their fellow nurses cheered them as they went in and shouted out their names, like walking for your diploma on graduation day.
Stern and Cycz, who lead the Greenfield nurses bargaining unit that is asking for improvements to staffing, said it didn’t go quite as smoothly as it seemed. They said they were not allowed to go with their fellow nurses all the way to their units. They said they told security, who prevented them from doing this, that this was a violation of labor laws and there is likelihood now they will file an additional unfair labor practice charge.
“It’s so bizarre to be working for a place for 13 years, and you give all of your heart and you’re just trying to do the right thing and you’re treated like a criminal,” Stern said afterward, Friday night. She pointed to her and Cycz’s T-shirts sporting “Rosie the Riveter” in nurse smocks, behind bars and captioned “Locked Out.”
Stern then noted the hospital has spent about $2 million between the two strikes and lockouts, for security and replacement staff.
“They spent all that money on security for Jillian and I. What did you think was (actually) going to happen?” Stern said. “I’m (like) the face of Debbie snack cakes,” joking about her innocent look. She then motioned to Cycz, who added she wouldn’t be any threat either given she is pregnant.
The hospital’s interim President Ron Bryant said in a statement two hours before the end of the lockout, “As the union leadership-forced strike at Baystate Franklin Medical Center draws to a close, we can report that patient care was delivered uninterrupted and our quality and safety standards were maintained throughout.” When asked for a comment following the end of the lockout, the nurses administration said it will stick with its earlier statement.
“We look forward to the return of our nurse colleagues,” Bryant’s statement from earlier in the day continued. “They are a critical part of our team.”
Earlier in the day the hospital’s Senior Vice President Jane Albert put out a statement slamming the nurses, who had gone down to Baystate’s Springfield offices earlier in the day, 10-foot “Fat Cat” in tow and some of whom spoke to the Greenfield Recorder for a story in Friday’s paper that had them explaining their perceived severe staffing issues at departmental levels.
“The ongoing campaign of negative misinformation being waged by the union is destructive to not only a critical health care resource, it is also disrespectful to our employees,” Albert said in her statement. “This union campaign devalues the work and commitment of our employees and the care they provide each and every day to our community.”
Cycz asked in reply to the statement what misinformation they were spreading. “We’re nurses,” she said. “We tell the truth.”
Albert pointed to Baystate settling contracts with other union contracts in the past year, like Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Home Care.
“We are grateful for the continued support of our community, including our dedicated employees, in the face of the destructive and divisive publicity stunts by union leadership,” Albert said.
As some of the nurses returned to work Friday evening, others, like those not scheduled to work then and the media, were not allowed in. The hospital had issued a “Plan D,” an emergency preparedness plan during the lockout, which was to stay into effect to 11:59 p.m. Friday, the hospital said.
When the nurses scheduled to work finished entering the hospital, one of the members of the bargaining team, Suzanne Love, gave it one last chant.
“What do we want?”
“Safe staffing.”
“When do we want it?
“Now.”
“And now we want to negotiate.”