MNA Nurses Stand with Martha's Vineyard Bus Drivers on Strike, Will Present $3,000 Check on Friday, June 26 on Picket Line

CANTON, Mass., July 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association will present a $3,000 check to the Martha's Vineyard Bus Drivers who have been on strike since June 28 to support struggling drivers and their families, and to demonstrate solidarity with workers seeking livable wages, job security and affordable healthcare.

The MNA Board of Directors ? 29 front-line nurses and health care professionals elected by their colleagues ? has voted to support and stand in solidarity with striking bus drivers. Local MNA nurses from around the region will join bus drivers on the picket line and present the check.

"The Massachusetts Nurses Association Board of Directors stands with the Martha's Vineyard Transit bus drivers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union, who went on strike June 28," the MNA board said in a statement. "Our nurses and healthcare professionals know what it is like to be forced to go on strike. Massachusetts hospital corporations, like the VTA and its contractor, have too often failed to negotiate in good faith and refused to provide the resources necessary for quality working conditions. When this happens, nurses and other workers must join together and do what is right for our colleagues, families and communities."

"VTA bus drivers were forced to go on strike after their out-of-state employer, TCI, and the agency that contracts with them, the VTA, decided to prematurely walk away from negotiations. The VTA, through its contract with TCI, is refusing to give drivers a real voice in setting their wages, benefits and working conditions.

"They deserve to be able to negotiate, and they have a right to do so under federal labor law. This is not how an agency should be run. Our nurses and healthcare professionals help pay for these transit services and use them as customers," the board continued. "We demand the employees that we support be respected and valued. Because the striking bus drivers are struggling to buy groceries, pay their bills and provide for their families, we are also contributing to their strike fund. We encourage anyone who is able to contribute at www.atu.org."

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association