Nurses at Tufts Medical Center have told the hospital they will go on strike on July 12, hospital CEO Michael Wagner announced today.

The announcement came after the Tufts unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association voted to reject what Tufts Medical Center called its best and final offer last month. The union gave a 10-day notice of a strike, as required by law.

In a letter to Tufts employees, Wagner said the hospital has recruited more than 300 replacement nurses who will work for five days.

“They will work with our physicians and the rest of our wonderful care team to continue to provide safe, high quality patient- and family-centered care,” Wagner wrote in a statement. “We also will allow our nurses to crossover the picket line to work.”

The MNA has been pushing for increased staffing and pay raises, saying salaries for nurses at Tufts do not compare to other local hospitals. Tufts has said it cannot afford to increase pay beyond what was offered during the negotiation process.

“We hope the union will change its mind and we can work out an agreement immediately,” Wagner wrote. “However, our organization is moving full speed ahead to put our strike planning into action.”

The union has said its strike would last one day, but Tufts has said it will lockout nurses for five days.

In a statement, Mary Havlicek Cornacchia, an OR nurse and bargaining unit co-chair said, "We do not want to strike. But management has left us with no other choice. They won’t hear us. They don’t believe us when we say that the contract improvements we are fighting for are necessary in order to keep patients safe, and in order to keep Tufts Medical Center competitive in a city full of top-notch hospitals. We want to be inside on July 12 caring for our patients, but if striking is the only way to get management to hear us and to take our issues seriously then we will be on the streets instead.”

Developing…