Labor & Employment Law

Washington Hospital Center Nurses To Strike March 4

By James Parks

Registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the nation?s capital, announced plans for a one-day walkout on Friday, March 4. 

The strike announcement follows three days of negotiations that the nurses say failed to resolve their primary concerns regarding serious patient safety problems and nursing standards at the hospital. Talks are scheduled to continue this week.

 The 1,650 nurses, members of National Nurses United (NNU), also object to attempts to cut nurses? pay and benefits, and charge that the company violated federal labor law in implementing cuts in workplace and economic standards. 

The hospital is owned by the MedStar Health chain whose policies the nurses say have eroded patient care conditions and has prompted an exodus of hundreds of experienced RNs from the hospital.

WHC RNs voted overwhelmingly last week to authorize the RN Facility Bargaining Council to call a walkout. The nurses last week also released the findings of internal survey of hospital employees conducted by the hospital last year which showed a significant percentage of its employees believe the hospital is lacking in patient safety. 

 The nurses have been without a contract since last June.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).