About 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are voting today, September 24, 2026, on whether to authorize an open-ended strike. Polls run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at several locations, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
A yes vote does not start a strike. It gives the union’s bargaining committee the power to call one. Federal law then sets conditions that apply to hospitals and to almost no other employer. The hospital’s own description of where talks stand, “at impasse,” is also a legal term with real consequences.
How the dispute got here
Contract talks began last November, WBUR reported. On July 8, 2026, Brigham nurses held a one-day strike, which the union calls the largest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history. The hospital brought in temporary nurses and locked the nurses out for four more days.
The dispute centers on pay. WBUR reported that Brigham nurses receive 5 percent annual step increases for their first 20 years of service and have often received additional across-the-board raises as well, and that the hospital is not offering an across-the-board raise this year except for nurses at the top of the scale. The union’s list also includes limits on the use of temporary nurses, health insurance costs, and pay for nurses required to float between units.
Each side blames the other for the standstill. The union says Mass General Brigham has refused to schedule negotiating sessions since August. A Mass General Brigham spokesperson told WBUR: “given the MNA’s unwillingness to adjust their proposal, the negotiations are at impasse.” Governor Maura Healey told WBUR that the system “has got to restart negotiations.” The union has also filed two unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board since the July strike. Those charges are allegations; the NLRB has not ruled on them.
The 10-day rule that applies only to hospitals
Most private-sector unions can strike without advance warning once their contract has expired. Hospital unions cannot. The National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(g), requires a union, before any “strike, picketing, or other concerted refusal to work at any health care institution,” to give “not less than ten days” written notice to both the institution and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
The union acknowledged this in its announcement: “No strike date has been determined, and nurses would provide legally required 10-day notice before any strike began.” So the earliest an open-ended strike could begin is ten days after notice is delivered, and the hospital will know the start date in advance. That is the purpose of the rule. It gives a hospital time to arrange staffing and move patients if necessary.
Health care bargaining has other longer clocks too. Under § 158(d), notice of intent to end or change a health care contract is 90 days, rather than the usual 60, and notice to mediators is 60 days rather than 30. Those clocks run early in bargaining. The 10-day notice under § 158(g) is the one that governs a strike now.
A strike that begins without the required notice can lose the protection of the Act, which exposes the nurses who took part to discipline.
What “impasse” means in labor law
Impasse is not just a description of a frustrating negotiation. It is a legal condition, and it matters for what an employer can do next.
While bargaining is ongoing, an employer generally may not change wages or working conditions on its own. In NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736 (1962), the Supreme Court held that an employer’s unilateral changes to subjects under negotiation violate its duty to bargain, even without any bad faith.
A genuine impasse relaxes that rule. Under long-standing NLRB doctrine, once good-faith bargaining has reached a point where further talks would be futile, the employer may implement terms consistent with its final offer. The employer’s duty to bargain is suspended while the deadlock lasts, not ended, and any meaningful change in position by either side, including a strike, can break the impasse.
Whether an impasse actually exists is a question the NLRB decides on the facts, not a label either side can apply. If the hospital were to implement terms and the Board later found there was no true impasse, the implementation would itself be an unfair labor practice. The union’s pending charges and its demand for more sessions are relevant to exactly that question.
Lockouts and replacements
The July lockout was not unusual in legal terms. In American Ship Building Co. v. NLRB, 380 U.S. 300 (1965), the Supreme Court held that an employer may lawfully lock out employees after an impasse to put economic pressure behind its bargaining position.
Replacement nurses raise a larger question for an open-ended strike. Under NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U.S. 333 (1938), an employer may hire permanent replacements for workers on an economic strike, meaning a strike over wages and terms. Those strikers remain employees, but they are not entitled to bump their replacements when the strike ends; they go on a recall list for openings.
The rule is different for a strike caused or prolonged by the employer’s unfair labor practices. The Supreme Court in Mastro Plastics Corp. v. NLRB, 350 U.S. 270 (1956), treated a strike against unfair labor practices as protected activity, and under NLRB doctrine unfair labor practice strikers are entitled to reinstatement even if replacements were hired. That is one reason unions file charges before a strike. Whether a given strike is an economic strike or an unfair labor practice strike is decided later, by the Board.
In July the hospital used temporary nurses, not permanent replacements. Nothing reported suggests it plans otherwise.
Can striking nurses collect unemployment?
Generally not while they are on strike. Massachusetts law, G.L. c. 151A, § 25(b), disqualifies a claimant for any week when the unemployment “is due to a stoppage of work which exists because of a labor dispute” at the claimant’s workplace.
The statute has exceptions. It does not deny benefits to someone who “becomes involuntarily unemployed during the period of the negotiation of a collective bargaining contract,” though only up to “the date of the commencement of a strike,” or to someone “not recalled to work within one week following the termination of the labor dispute.” Paying regular union dues does not by itself count as financing a dispute. The Department of Unemployment Assistance applies these rules to each claim.
What to watch for
- The vote result, expected after polls close at 8 p.m. today.
- A 10-day notice, which would set the earliest start date of an open-ended strike.
- Any implementation of the hospital’s final offer on a claimed impasse, and any new NLRB charge in response.
- A return to the table, which the governor has publicly urged.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Brigham nurses’ strike vote?
September 24, 2026, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association. About 4,000 nurses are eligible. A yes vote authorizes the bargaining committee to call an open-ended strike; it does not set a date.
How much notice do hospital nurses have to give before striking?
At least ten days. Under 29 U.S.C. § 158(g), a union must notify the health care institution and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in writing at least ten days before any strike or picketing.
What does it mean that negotiations are “at impasse”?
In labor law, a genuine impasse is a deadlock after good-faith bargaining where further talks would be futile. It can allow an employer to implement terms consistent with its final offer. Whether an impasse exists is decided by the NLRB, not by either party’s statement.
Can a hospital permanently replace striking nurses?
In an economic strike over wages and terms, federal law allows permanent replacements under NLRB v. Mackay Radio (1938). Workers striking over the employer’s unfair labor practices are entitled to reinstatement. Which kind of strike it is gets decided later by the NLRB.
Do striking workers get unemployment in Massachusetts?
Generally not. G.L. c. 151A, § 25(b) disqualifies claimants whose unemployment is due to a stoppage of work caused by a labor dispute at their workplace, with limited exceptions.
Sources: Massachusetts Nurses Association release, September 21, 2026, for the vote date, hours, the 10-day notice statement and the union’s positions; WBUR, September 10, 2026, for the history of the talks, the wage dispute, and the statements of the Mass General Brigham spokesperson and Governor Healey; MNA releases of July 27 and August 3, 2026, for the filing of the unfair labor practice charges. Statutory text of 29 U.S.C. § 158(d) and (g) read at law.cornell.edu and G.L. c. 151A, § 25(b) read at malegislature.gov. Citations verified: NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736 (1962); American Ship Building Co. v. NLRB, 380 U.S. 300 (1965); NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U.S. 333 (1938); Mastro Plastics Corp. v. NLRB, 350 U.S. 270 (1956). The vote result was not known when this was published. General information about labor law, not legal advice.