Nurses are calling for safe RN staffing, regionally competitive wages, and other contractual protections to keep care local in Franklin County

GREENFIELD, Mass., April 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC), represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), will hold an informational picket on Tuesday, April 7 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. outside the hospital at 164 High St. as part of their ongoing fight for a fair union contract that protects patients, nurses, and access to local care.

Informational Picket Details
Date: Tuesday, April 7
Time: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Location: Baystate Franklin Medical Center, outside the main entrance (not the ED), 164 High St., Greenfield, MA

"We will proudly picket outside the hospital on April 7 alongside our community. Our negotiations directly impact nurses, our families, patients and the broader Franklin County community," said Suzanne Love, BFMC RN and Co-Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee. "Without a strong contract, it becomes harder to recruit and retain the experienced nurses our patients depend on and to ensure safe, high-quality care close to home."

Main Negotiation Issues

• Ensuring safe, high-quality patient care.
• Maintaining strong staffing protections (nurse-patient ratios).
• Securing competitive wages to recruit and retain union nurses.
• Contractual protection for nurses who are sick or injured.
• Keeping care local in Franklin County and keeping BFMC a union hospital.

"Our ability to provide safe patient care is under threat because of the increasing disparity in wages between Baystate Franklin nurses and nurses at other hospitals in the region," said Marissa Potter, BFMC RN and Co-Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee. "We need a fair union contract that ensures safe staffing and supports recruitment and retention so we can maintain high-quality, local care."

Why Local Union Nurses Matter

At rural community hospitals like Baystate Franklin Medical Center, safe patient care depends on a permanent nursing workforce that knows the community and can manage a wide range of needs without extensive specialty support. While larger urban hospitals have IV teams, wound care nurses, NICUs, and round the clock pharmacies, in rural hospitals well-trained nurses pivot between all these roles and others, several times each shift. 

Baystate Franklin nurses have experience stepping into these types of roles every day. That versatility is critical in more rural settings. Baystate's insistence on using a non-union float pool to bring in nurses from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield undermines this care model. These float nurses are not accustomed to the realities of rural hospital care. This can create gaps in care, increased safety risks, and strain on local staff.

BFMC nurses are calling on Baystate to invest in their permanent union workforce to preserve access to safe, community-based patient care.

Community Petition Gains Momentum

BFMC nurses are urging community members to stand with them by signing a public petition calling on Baystate Health to agree to a fair contract that protects patients and preserves local access to care. Community members can sign the petition at: www.massnurses.org/FranklinCommunity.

"We, community members of Franklin County and beyond, are calling for a fair union contract for the nurses of Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC) that protects safe staffing levels, supports nurse recruitment and retention, and preserves access to high-quality local care," the community petition says.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association