More than 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital walked off the job Wednesday morning, marking the largest nurses strike in Massachusetts history.
The one-day strike stems from a dispute over cost-of-living salary increases.
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Hospital officials argue that adding cost-of-living raises on top of the existing annual 5% step increases would be too costly, noting that Brigham nurses are already the highest paid in the state.
The union, however, contends that the hospital system can afford the raises, pointing to the millions of dollars earned annually by top executives.
To maintain operations, parent company Mass General Brigham hired 1,300 traveling nurses as temporary replacements and increased non-nursing staff.
Although the strike is only one day, replacement contracts require a five-day minimum, meaning unionized nurses are locked out until 7 a.
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m. on Monday, July 13.
Hospital officials say the replacement staffing is sufficient to keep the main Boston hospital running mostly as normal, though increased campus traffic is expected.
However, the Foxborough surgery center will remain closed from Wednesday through Friday, forcing patient surgeries to be rescheduled or relocated.
The labor action coincides with a separate seven-day strike by 450 workers in the Mass General Brigham home care program.
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Those employees plan to demonstrate at five regional locations on Wednesday before consolidating their picketing outside the corporate headquarters at Assembly Row in Somerville for the remaining six days.
