Tentative Pact For RNs At Washington Hospital Center

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the District of Columbia’s largest medical center, reached a tentative agreement Tuesday night on a new contract with the hospital, National Nurses United, which represents the 1,700 WHC RNs, announced yesterday (UC Twitter followers got this story yesterday; sign up here to follow us!). Details of the settlement are being withheld pending membership meetings of the Washington Hospital Center RNs Friday and Saturday who must approve the agreement. The RN nurse negotiating team is recommending ratification. “We are pleased to have achieved an agreement with the hospital that strengthens our ability to effectively advocate for our patients and protects RN professional and economic standards,” said Lori Marlowe RN, a cardiac nurse who is a member of the union’s bargaining team. With the proposed agreement, the RNs are canceling picketing at the hospital that had been scheduled for Friday. Washington Hospital Center RNs have been without a contract since last June. They voted to join NNU, the nation’s largest union and professional association of nurses, in October. Ken Zinn, NNU’s Director of Strategic Campaigns, thanked the Metro Council “for your support for us during this long, protracted struggle. It has been very meaningful to the nurses to know they had the solidarity of their union brothers and sisters in this community and it was important in ultimately convincing MedStar that it was time to come to a resolution.”
– photo: thousands rallied outside the Washington Hospital Center on March 4 to support striking nurses; photo by Bill Burke/Page One