Registered Nurses at Berkshire Medical Center responded to the Massachusetts Nurses Association call for a one-day strike, after negotiations spanning 22 bargaining sessions hit an impasse. Roughly 800 nurses at Berkshire Medical Center are members of the union, and Monday’s strike was the third this year by the MNA. The main conflict at hand is over staffing ratio, which the hospital’s parent company said will have to be dropped if contract negotiations are to be settled. However, the MNA is a particularly powerful union not only because of its size but also due to the fact that they represent highly skilled workers, and they aren’t showing signs of backing down.
See "Labor experts: Nursing union strikes deploy unique strategies", Heather Bellow, Berkshire Eagle, October 3, 2017