About 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston will not walk off the job on Wednesday after all. Their union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, postponed a planned open-ended strike after Mass General Brigham delivered what it called its best and final contract offer on Saturday night.
The nurses will instead vote in person on the proposal. No date has been set, though the union expects the vote in about two weeks. Under the applicable rules, the hospital must receive 10 days' notice before any strike, so a new walkout could not begin until at least 10 days after fresh notice is given.
The postponement lifts an immediate deadline for patients with surgeries, cancer infusions, deliveries and specialist appointments booked this week. An open-ended walkout would have been the largest of its kind in Massachusetts history, according to CBS Boston.
The dispute itself is not settled. If nurses reject the offer, the strike threat returns this fall, and Boston-area families will again be watching a calendar nobody in the city's hospital system wants to test.
