Nurses at Newton-Wellesley Hospital voted Wednesday to authorize union leaders to call a one-day strike if contentious contract negotiations with the hospital continue.
Ninety percent of the nurses who voted cast ballots in favor of authorizing a strike, according to the union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The vote gives union leaders the ability to call a strike at any time, provided they give the hospital 10 days’ notice. Both sides are scheduled to meet for a negotiating session with a federal mediator on March 15.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which has nearly 1,000 members at Newton-Wellesley, organized a picket and strike vote Wednesday in response to disagreements over staffing levels and salaries. The union also picketed Wednesday at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, where it has about 600 members.
Newton-Wellesley Hospital and North Shore Medical Center are both owned by Partners HealthCare, the state’s largest health care system.
The nurses union said it is protesting “the failure of Partners HealthCare to provide the best possible patient care and working conditions while dishing out exorbitant salary hikes to top executives.”
Partners’ chief executive and the chiefs of its two largest hospitals earn more than $2 million a year each.
This is the second round of contract negotiations at Newton-Wellesley in less than a year. Last June, the union planned a one-day strike after sparring with hospital officials on staffing, benefits, and other issues. Both sides agreed on a one-year contract before the strike took effect.
This time, the union and hospital are negotiating a three-year contract. Joe Markman, a spokesman for the nurses union, said the hospital has not agreed to a 1 percent raise that nurses are seeking to take effect this fall.
Brian O’Dea, a spokesman for Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said hospital officials made “a generous proposal” that would allow the nurses to remain among the most highly paid in the state.
Priyanka Dayal McCluskey can be reached at priyanka.mccluskey@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @priyanka_dayal.