Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses strike over pay raises, insurance costs

BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey has summoned the state’s largest health system and its striking nurses to the State House on Wednesday in an attempt to broker a new contract, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The calling of the late-afternoon meeting came hours after a boisterous start to Massachusetts’ biggest-ever nurses strike, and the first at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Mayor Michelle Wu also helped arrange the meeting, the union said.

Thousands of Brigham nurses and supporters poured onto Francis Street near the hospital starting at 7 a.m., shaking cowbells, banging on plastic buckets and cheering at a deafening chorus of supportive honks from passing cars. The nurses, sporting “Union Strong” and “Brigham Nurses United” shirts, waved signs calling out management. “Value Nurses Like You Value Your Bonu$e$,” one sign read.