Inside the Largest Nurse Strike in Massachusetts History

Jul 6, 2026

28:51

Speech & Language Pathology Physician Burnout & Wellness

Episode Description

Hosts Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL welcome Shannon Vieira, RN and Kara Wilson, OT of MGB Home Care for an urgent conversation about one of the largest healthcare strikes in Massachusetts history.

On July 8th, home care nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, dietitians, and speech-language pathologists will walk off the job for seven days. On the same day, inpatient nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital will also strike — and the hospital has announced it will lock them out for an additional four days.

In this episode, Shannon and Kara walk through the changes to their working conditions that led up to the strike, the caseloads pushing home care clinicians past safe practice limits (up to 50 patients per clinician), the growing wage gap between frontline workers and executives at the seventh-wealthiest hospital system in the U.S., and what they're actually asking for. Marion and Rebecca connect the dots between staffing, cost of living, hospital economics, and the future of the healthcare workforce.

Whether you work in home care, hospital nursing, or any patient-facing role, this conversation explains exactly why nurses and their colleagues across Massachusetts are drawing a line — and why the rest of the country is watching.

Jump Ahead

00:58 — Welcome and introducing Shannon Vieira and Kara Wilson
02:10 — What led up to the strike: the point system, salaried pay, and lost overtime
03:22 — A new CNO, efficiency mandates, and a 20-25% productivity jump
04:13 — The UKG clock-in revelation
05:21 — Is this the first home care strike of its kind?
06:08 — The parallel Brigham and Women's inpatient nurse strike
07:04 — Same-day strike, plus a four-day hospital lockout
08:09 — Why the lockout feels like a strong-arm tactic
09:30 — Why nurses across the country are watching this strike so closely
10:29 — Caseload realities on the OT side: 34 patients in 32 hours
11:49 — Why home care is more than face time with the patient
13:39 — What Shannon and Kara are asking for
14:18 — The safe caseload research: 25 max, 18 ideal
15:59 — Sicker patients, faster discharges, and 30-day readmission risk
17:19 — The executive pay disparity and MGB's $35.8B in assets
18:10 — MGB reported $2 billion in net gains last year
19:12 — Why Boston's 53% higher cost of living matters
21:58 — Retention, hourly rate math, and clinician burnout
23:30 — Who sits on the MGB board of directors
26:07 — Shannon's final thought: the unionization wave was created by MGB
26:35 — Kara's final thought: self-care as patient care
27:55 — Marion's closing: "The people united will never be defeated"

Listen now at nurse.org/news/love-n-leary-nursing-podcast.

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