Nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts have been on strike since March 8, demanding safe staffing for patients. Represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the seven hundred striking nurses are engaged in what has become one of the longest nurses’ strikes in Massachusetts in decades.

The hospital’s owner is Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, which furloughed workers amid the pandemic despite taking billions from the federal government under the CARES Act. Tenet has spent millions of dollars on the strike, including hiring replacement nurses and paying the Worcester Police Department to patrol the picket line. Further raising the stakes, Tenet recently threatened to permanently replace the striking nurses.

Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members Alexandra Bruns-Smith and Matthew Erlich recently spoke with ICU nurse and MNA president Katie Murphy about the Saint Vincent strike, the horrors of for-profit health care, and democratic socialism. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.