DC nurses win advocacy award, grow union

Victories at Children’s National and Howard University

Staff report

National Nurse magazine - July | Aug | Sept 2026 Issue

On May 2, the Metro Labor Council, AFL-CIO presented District of Columbia Nurses Association RNs with the prestigious Golden Picket Award. This award recognizes a local union that has turned out the most members for mobilization, protest, or campaign for better pay and working conditions.

Nurses at St. Elizabeths Hospital and the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program have endured workplace violence, chronic understaffing, unsafe infrastructure, and inadequate equipment for years, if not decades.

Despite sustained advocacy on behalf of both patients and staff, meaningful, systemic change has remained elusive. The District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) has too often operated in a reactive posture, falling short of its obligation to ensure a safe, therapeutic environment for care delivery to some of the district’s most vulnerable residents.

In 2025, DC Nurses Association/DBH nurses elevated their advocacy with urgency and precision. Moving beyond internal escalation, they organized, documented systemic failures, and brought their frontline experiences directly to policymakers. In coordinated efforts, nurses testified before the DC Council, drawing the focused attention of leadership, including Christina Henderson, chair of the Committee on Health.

This advocacy marked a turning point. For the first time, the district government initiated consistent, structured engagement with DCNA/DBH nurses, including standing monthly meetings with the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services to directly address longstanding workplace safety and patient care issues. While these steps represent measurable progress, the pace and scale of change remain misaligned with the urgency of conditions on the ground.

Even so, DBH nurses remain steadfast. Their work is grounded not only in clinical expertise, but in an unwavering commitment to dignity, safety, and accountability in behavioral health care.

DCNA/DBH is deeply honored to accept recognition from the Metro Labor Council, an acknowledgment not just of perseverance, but of principled advocacy in the face of systemic challenges.

This has been the third time since 2018 in which the Metro Labor Council, AFL-CIO has honored DCNA with an award.

Elsewhere in the district, nurses are going union with DCNA. On March 4, DCNA filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for five nurses working at the Anacostia Clinic that is part of Children’s National, a pediatric health system in the Washington, D.C., area. On April 23, nurses voted yes to join the union, which represents nurses at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.

And on April 1, DCNA filed an election petition with the NLRB for a union election for per diem RNs at Howard University Hospital. On May 3, the PRNs voted in favor of joining the union, which already represents registered nurses at Howard. DCNA and per diem nurses will review the collective bargaining agreement and prepare proposals for negotiations.