The labor union for over 300 nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, and social workers at Howard University Hospital and the Student Health Center has announced plans to strike later this month.

The union, District of Columbia Nurses Association, accuses hospital management of various unfair labor practices, including unilaterally changing some workers’ schedules and pay during negotiations, and walking away from the bargaining table. Howard University, meanwhile, says management has bargained in good faith but is unable to reach an agreement.

The one-day strike is scheduled for Monday, April 11. The union notified Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick and hospital CEO Anita Jenkins of the strike last week. The union also filed various unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Edward Smith, the union’s executive director, says membership fully supports the strike; he hopes all join the picket.

“It’s hard for people to say ‘I’m going to strike,’ especially in the health care area, because of the serious nature of the quality of care we give our patients,” Smith told DCist/WAMU. “We wanted to make it clear to management that this issue was important enough for our members to strike.”

He hopes management returns to the bargaining table so that members won’t have to strike. The union’s contract expired in November, prompting several months of negotiations. Management walked away from the bargaining table in mid-February after presenting their final offer, which it began implementing in mid-March without full agreement from the union, according to Smith.

“Management walked away from the bargaining table despite our efforts to convince them that there were still a number of issues that needed to be negotiated,” he added. “Because they are refusing to come back to the bargaining table, we really have no choice but to call for a one-day strike.”

Eileen Shaw, president of the union at Howard University Hospital, called management’s offer “a slap in the face.”

“Nurses are at the breaking point. We have given everything we have to Howard during this pandemic because we are dedicated to our patients and this community,” she said in a statement. “They aren’t respecting us,” nor their patients, she adds.

A Howard University spokesperson says management has been “working diligently” to reach a 3-year contract, participating in over 20 bargaining sessions and five mediation days.

“Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reach an agreement,” the spokesperson told DCist/WAMU via email. “While we are deeply disappointed that the Union has made this decision, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that, during the one day strike, our patients continue to receive the same high-quality care in a safe environment that they expect and deserve.”

According to the union, the parties disagree on staffing and compensation.

The union is trying to secure nurse-patient ratios in the contract to alleviate the existing staffing crisis. (The union also has called on the D.C. Council to legislate staffing ratios.) Esmeralda Salgado, a Howard University hospital nurse, told DCist/WAMU in January that she treated six patients at a time while working on a floor designated for COVID-19 patients, which is far beyond the number of people she can reasonably care for.

According to multiple nurses who spoke to DCist/WAMU in January, management addresses the staggering number of vacancies — over 100 nurse vacancies earlier this year, per the union — by having nurses assigned an unsafe number of patients or hiring travel nurses who often aren’t as familiar with the hospital and typically earn more than staff.

The Howard University spokesperson maintains that the hospital is properly staffed, and management offered proposals to the union during bargaining that would address future staffing needs. “We respect and appreciate our RNs and all our staff members at the hospital that deliver consistently excellent care for our patients,” the spokesperson said via email.

The other outstanding disagreement concerns pay. Staff who are scheduled overnights and weekends are compensated extra for working difficult hours — but Smith says management wants to change that. Management is proposing a flat rate, he says, which could impact retention and make jobs at Howard less competitive. “No other hospital in the District has proposed pay cuts, especially during the pandemic,” Smith says.

Howard University Hospital has implemented their final proposal to the union, amounting to hourly wage increases averaging 9.8%, according to the spokesperson. Smith says the union tentatively agreed to pay raises, but says that management cut the prior percentage-based differential pay to a flat-dollar rate, negatively impacting senior staff.

Howard University avoided a strike last month, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with several hundred non-tenured faculty represented by their union, SEIU Local 500. Lecturers nearly went on strike because they believed management was bargaining in bad faith, of which the university denies. Around 150 full-time faculty had been in contract negotiations with Howard for nearly four years — far longer than bargaining usually takes.

This story was updated to clarify the effect of pay changes impacting senior staff.