After more than nine months working without a contract, union nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield have reached a tentative agreement with hospital system Baystate Health.
The agreement includes provisions to increase staffing for Baystate Franklin's Emergency Department and Mental Health unit, as well as additional compensation for surgical nurses who need to remain on-call for emergencies. It codifies a 6.2% raise for nurses in the first year of the contract, and 13% raises over the length of the agreement which expires at the end of 2028.
"We have reached a tentative agreement and look forward to the bargaining unit members having the opportunity to take a ratification vote in the coming weeks," Baystate Health said in an emailed statement.
Suzanne Love is an Emergency Department RN at the hospital, and co-chair of the Massachusetts Nursing Association bargaining committee for Baystate Franklin. She said additional staffing was a key sticking point in negotiations, as changes to the healthcare landscape push more people into seeking emergency care over traditional primary care.
"We're concerned that there's going to be more and more people seeking emergency care, and we need to have the staff to be able to take care of people in a timely basis," she said.
Nurses at Baystate Franklin have been locked in contract negotiations since September of 2025, and prolonged stalemates led the union to authorize a strike over the matter in April. While a strike never materialized, Love said the authorization was important to make clear to hospital management that it was on the table.
"That's a very powerful tool," Love said. "And just having that vote sends a message that these nurses are willing to go out and do this, are willing to put themselves out there without pay to get what we need for ourselves and for the community."
According to Love, strike discussions were ongoing all the way up to the September 28th bargaining meeting which produced the tentative agreement.
"If we hadn't gotten good progress [September 28th], we were prepared to give strike notice starting October 25th," Love said.
The local community rallied behind Baystate Franklin nurses for much of the negotiation process. The Greenfield City Council unanimously passed a resolution in April expressing their support for the nurses, and Love said community members this week held a standout by the hospital independent of the union.
"It makes me feel so fortunate and so supported that we have the community behind us," Love said. "Greenfield is a strong union town, and there's a labor history that is part of the backbone of Greenfield."
Love said she heard words of encouragement even from patients as she worked her nursing shifts at the hospital.
"I went from the contract talks to the E.R. and took a nurse assignment. And one of the patients was saying, I really support you," Love said. "And it was so much fun to be able to say to her 'we got a contract settled two hours ago.'"
A majority of union members still need to ratify the agreement, a vote that is planned for October.
