NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s technical and service workers braved the heat for five hours Thursday to pressure Mass General Brigham as they advocate for fair wages.

The union 1199SEIU, which represents 687, or 70%, of Cooley Dickinson employees — including phlebotomists, pharmacy technicians and other technical positions — held the demonstration as contract negotiations continue after more than six months.

“We gotta feed our children, pay our rent, ask Cooley where the money went,” chanted a group of union members rallying outside the hospital ahead of lunch.

Emergency room technician Robert Serrano, who has been involved in talks with Boston-based Mass General Brigham, the owner of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, said the current base pay is $18.10 an hour. He said the MIT living wage calculator sets a living wage at $26.31 an hour for the area. The union is advocating for a base pay of $24.59 an hour.

Serrano said low wages have contributed to staffing shortages, leaving the emergency department understaffed even as night-shift coverage is reduced. The union represents nearly all hospital employees except physicians, nurses and security personnel.

“If we can get these wage increases, we could get more staffing because we’d be competitive, and it would set new market rates for the area because other hospitals would have to compete,” said Serrano.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Cooley Dickinson Hospital said that over the course of more than 15 bargaining sessions, tentative agreements have been reached on 10 proposals.

“Cooley Dickinson Hospital is committed to bargaining in good faith with 1199SEIU and to reaching an agreement that supports our workforce and our long-term sustainability to provide care for our Pioneer Valley community,” the statement, sent by MGB spokesperson Kelly Mitchell, said. “We’ve presented a comprehensive economic package that offers market-competitive rates across the varied role groups in this unit. We continue to bargain in good faith and for a fair contract.”

Serrano said inside the walls of the hospital there is, “A lot of cursing, a lot of angry people. They want more money.”

Patient Care Technician Nathan Medlock, attending the rally dressed in scrubs, said, “We make up the phlebotomists, the respiratory therapists, the people helping with cancer treatments, the secretaries making these appointments. We’re the people in the rooms every day.”

Medlock said that currently the goal is to shed light on the current conditions by giving the hospital bad press. The next move would be to call a strike.

“Their initial offer was 10 cents more an hour,” said Medlock, which he called an insulting increase.

“If we were to strike and threaten a walkout, that would be about 70% of staff off the floor. It would bring the whole hospital to a crashing halt,” he said.

Medlock said in Holyoke, just 20 minutes away at Holyoke Medical Center, the base pay is $5 to $10 more an hour. “We actually are a really a high-performing hospital, so why are we making $5 to $10 less as a starting rate just 20 minutes away from another hospital?” he asked.

He finds it frustrating that executives with MGB get raises in the millions, as CEO Anne Klibanski had a yearly salary of $8.4 million in 2024.

“It’s just greed. Straight up greed is why we’re out here, because we know there’s money and we’re performing at a high rate, so what is the answer? The answer is they just don’t want to give it to us when they very well could,” said Medlock. “We’re the ones sitting with people’s families, holding their hands.”

Katie Grant, an emergency room technician, is making $20 an hour. She said a $4 boost would be “amazing.”

“Everything is more expensive, food is more expensive, rent is more expensive,” she said. “It’s made it harder to pay bills, like you have to cut back on stuff. You try to stretch things as far as you can. It’s difficult.”

Her co-worker Anna Hlava said, “It seems unreasonable to have all these hardworking people taking care of your friends and family and pay them so little that they can’t afford to live and feed their own.”

Hlava added that she hears many peers in the hospital discuss their struggles.

“There are a lot of struggles, even just with basic bills, especially in the summer. I hear a lot of people talking about putting in air conditioners, and people just talking about putting in regular box fans because air conditioners are so expensive,” she said. “And in the winter it’s heating oil, and then Christmas — cutting back on gifts, cutting back on vacations.”

A struggle for her is paying for gas. It just cost her $60 to fill her tank. “It’s insane,” she said.