MSCA Statement of Solidarity with St. Vincent Nurses

The Massachusetts State College Association Board of Directors (MSCA) asserts its solidarity with the nurses of St. Vincent Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), in their current labor dispute with Tenet Healthcare.

We support the nurses’ ongoing strike, which will continue until an equitable agreement is reached, to ensure both safe working conditions and safe patient care. Despite these nurses’—these truly essential workers’—courageous efforts to keep the communities of Worcester and the Commonwealth safe, including their ongoing work at the vaccine clinic at Worcester State University (WSU), Tenet Healthcare (the multibillion dollar, multinational corporation which operates the hospital) has refused their nurses’ reasonable requests for appropriate pay and adequate staffing levels. Both of these demands are necessary to maintain public health and even minimally fair labor conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

MSCA further calls on the WSU administration not to use “replacement workers” of any kind to operate the mass vaccination site at WSU or use any part of the university’s campus or facilities related to the hospital’s use of “replacement workers,” including use of the campus as satellite parking for the hospital.

MSCA stands in solidarity with MNA for as long as the St. Vincent nurses feel they must engage in their legally-protected and socially-responsible withholding of labor in an unfortunate but necessary effort to achieve a just outcome to the current impasse, an outcome which would improve the short- and long-term stability of the health care system in Worcester.

MSCA believes the St. Vincent nurses are essential workers and essential members of the Worcester community and that their demands should be met without further delay.

–March 9, 2021

MSCA Board of Directors:
CJ O’Donnell, MSCA President (Massachusetts Maritime Academy)
Maria Hegbloom, MSCA Vice President (Bridgewater State University)
Nancy George, MSCA Secretary (Salem State University)
Eric Weeks, MSCA Treasurer (Bridgewater State University)
Irina Seceleanu, Chapter President (Bridgewater State University)
Aruna Krishnamurthy, Chapter President (Fitchburg State University)
Robert Donohue, Chapter President (Framingham State University)
Katie Riel, Chapter President (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
James Moriarty, Chapter President (Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts)
Todd Hibbert, Chapter President (Massachusetts Maritime Academy)
Tiffany Chenault, Chapter President (Salem State University)
Claudia Ciano-Boyce, Chapter President (Westfield State University)
Sam O’Connell, Chapter President (Worcester State University)
James Leone, Chapter Director (Bridgewater State University)
Rala Diakite, Chapter Director (Fitchburg State University)
Sarah Pilkenton, Chapter Director (Framingham State University)
Keith Washington, Chapter Director (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
Graziana Ramsden, Chapter Director (Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts)
Raymond Lam, Chapter Director (Massachusetts Maritime Academy)
Amy Smith, Chapter Director (Salem State University)
Margot Hennessy, Chapter Director (Westfield State University)
Susan Mitroka-Batsford, Chapter Director (Worcester State University)