07/11/2025
RNs at Cape Cod and Falmouth Hospitals to Hold Informational Pickets on Tuesday, July 15; Staffing, health insurance, and workplace violence are key issues in contract talks
The registered nurses (RNs) working at Cape Cod Healthcare’s Hyannis and Falmouth hospitals, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), will hold an informational picket on Tuesday, July 15, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the locations detailed above.
The nurses’ fight to maintain quality, affordable health insurance — as well as win improvements in staffing, workplace violence prevention language, and competitive wages — are the key issues that have prompted the informational picket.
The RNs have been bargaining for new and competitive contracts since October 2024, with each hospital’s nurses originally meeting independently with management to address campus-specific contract concerns. Now, the nurses are meeting collectively with management to address system-wide contract issues.
“The economics of working as a nurse on the Cape have been getting more difficult each year,” said Jill Notaro, RN and union co-chairperson at Cape Cod Hospital. “The majority of us live here, and as any Cape resident — permanent or seasonal — knows, living here is expensive and getting more expensive each year. Our wages are no longer competitive. The better pay at other area hospitals is making it hard to keep nurses in Falmouth and Hyannis. When they leave for jobs elsewhere, it is difficult to fill open positions because potential new nurses know the pay is so far behind.”
“It’s a revolving door,” added Notaro, “and it is seen and felt by patients.”
Compounding the matter is management’s desire to pass the burden of increased insurance costs to nurses. “It’s not just premium costs that they want to increase,” added Notaro. “Management has proposed moving away from flat co-pay rates and instead going to a percentage-based co-pay rate of 30% for various doctor appointments and procedures. This is unacceptable, not just because of the overall increase, but also because there will likely be significant variations in cost from doctor to doctor and from procedure to procedure.”
“Management’s insurance proposal is unpredictable, unmanageable, and cost-prohibitive for nurses who are already underpaid and living in one of the state’s most expensive areas,” agreed Connie Cummings, RN and co-chairperson on the MNA union at Falmouth Hospital.
Making simple contract improvements to address the all-too-common problem of workplace violence has also been an unfortunate and unnecessary fight with management. “Workplace violence in healthcare settings just continues to grow,” said Connie Cummings, RN and co-chairperson on the MNA union at Falmouth Hospital, “and we are asking for fundamental things to improve the safety and wellness of nurses, other staff members, and patients alike.”
The nurses are asking that signs be posted in public areas throughout the hospital clarifying CCHC’s zero-tolerance policy against workplace violence. Additionally, the nurses want signs stating that photographing and videoing people other than agreeable family members is inappropriate and unacceptable.
Nurses face physical or verbal violence every 36 minutes in Massachusetts hospitals, and experience violence at a rate five times that of other professions. In the years during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, this longstanding crisis has grown even more problematic. The MNA’s most recent survey of nurses, completed in the spring of this year, revealed the following statistics:
• 69% of nurses in 2025 say workplace violence and abuse is a serious problem, which is an increase of five points from last year and 27 points from 2021.
• 23% of nurses say they do not feel safe in their workplace, with that number jumping to a third (34%) among nurses in direct care at teaching hospitals.
“Our contract proposals around workplace violence are commonsense improvements that should not be used by management to drag down contract negotiations,” added Cummings. “Yet here we are, picketing like our lives and livelihoods depend on it … because they do.”
Approximately 600 RNs work at CCHC’s Hyannis campus, with another 200 working at the Falmouth campus.
The MNA offers a variety of nursing timely, relevant courses on a broad range of practice issues to accommodate our membership. MNA members receive discounts on course registration fees.
