Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses were set to return to work Monday after the Mass General Brigham Nurse Strike and a four-day lockout. They planned to gather before 6:59 a.m. for a brief rally, then walk back in.
The work stoppage began Wednesday after months of contract negotiations failed. The 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital finished their one-day strike Thursday morning, and Mass General Brigham then ordered the lockout for operational and emergency preparedness measures.
Anne Klibanski pay gap
The dispute sharpened around pay. Anne Klibanski, the president and CEO of Mass General Brigham, earned $8.4 million in 2023, while the highest-paid nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital earned $412,299 in 2025.
The hospital’s own salary list went further. The next 10 nurses on the list all took home $300,000, with one topping out at $358,175, and all the rest in the Top 100 list made more than $237,000 last year.
Joe Markman on wages
Joe Markman, a Massachusetts Nurses Association spokesman, said nurses need a cost-of-living bump. He said, “Brigham nurses are highly skilled, expert nurses who provide care to some of the most medically complex hospital patients in the world. They absolutely deserve and need to be paid well so that BWH can have a strong nursing workforce,” and added, “the current 0% cost-of-living offer just isn’t working.”
He also said, “In addition,” and then described the cost issue directly: “the cost of living has skyrocketed in the past five years — going up 50% from 2020 to 2024 in Massachusetts and still rising. MGB needs to include a cost-of-living raise to ensure the nurses’ existing wage scale does not fall behind, and BWH loses nurses.”
Massachusetts Nurses Association
The Massachusetts Nurses Association members voted to strike, and Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ed Markey joined the picket line last week. The conflict was described as the state’s largest-ever nurses’ strike.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital said, “We value our nurses, as evidenced by the below” and “like other healthcare organizations, MGB is faced with difficult decisions.” The immediate stoppage is ending, but the pay terms that drove it were left in place as the nurses return Monday.
