Nurses to strike Friday at Baystate Franklin Medical Center

GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center are going on strike Friday, after a deal was not reached with hospital leaders on Wednesday night.

Two hundred and nine unionized nurses at Baystate Franklin will be going on strike outside the Greenfield hospital starting at 7:00 Friday morning. The nurses say that the picketing will go on for 24-hours.

Both sides say that sick time policy and overtime pay are they issues they still cannot agree on.

“We need a mutually generated brainstorming session to come up with a compromise that both sides can live with, but allows us to move forward,” said Chuck Gijanto, President of Baystate Regional Markets, “and until such time, we are going to be stuck.”

Baystate Franklin said it offered two dates later this month to continue with negotiations, but the Massachusetts Nurses Association told 22News that the nurses are checking the dates.

A special contingency plan for the hospital will be put in place during Friday’s strike. The hospital says its emergency room will be fully staffed, but the intensive care unit will be closed.