RNs at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital to strike on July 24 for the first time

Registered nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Md., gave notice to their employer today that they will hold a strike for one day on July 24 to protest the Ascension management’s refusal to address RNs’ deep concerns about patient care, safe staffing, and high staff turnover during contract negotiations. The notice follows a nearly unanimous strike authorization vote on May 16.

This is the first time hospital nurses have held a strike in Baltimore. The nurses, who are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), made history in November 2023 as the first RNs to unionize a hospital in Baltimore. Nurses always give at least 10 days of advance notice to their hospitals to allow for alternative plans to be made for patient care.

“Hospital management told us that they are OK with ‘suboptimal’ patient care when we brought this issue to the bargaining table. That is completely unacceptable, and that is why we are striking,” said Gideon Eziama, RN in the cardiology/telemetry unit. “Ascension is continuously over-reliant on floating nurses to other units to plug the staffing holes they intentionally create. But the hospital is not consistently tracking nurses’ competencies and assigns us to work in units we often aren’t trained to work in.”

Who:    Registered nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital

What:   One-day strike for patient safety and a fair contract

When:  Thursday, July 24, 7 a.m. to Friday, July 25, 6:59 a.m.
RNs picketing: 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-8 p.m. outside the hospital; rally at 9 a.m.

Where: Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S Caton Ave, Baltimore, Md.

Ascension Saint Agnes nurses have been in negotiations for a first contract since January 2024 with little to no movement on key issues. Ascension management has refused to address nurses’ concerns about short staffing, unsafe floating assignments, and RN retention. Floating is a management practice where nurses are reassigned to units of the hospital where they do not normally work. Between April and July of this year, more than 10 percent of Ascension Saint Agnes’ nurses left due to these chronic issues.

The RNs urge management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract with:

• Safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios;
• Floating procedures that prevent nurses from being assigned to units where they have not established expertise or competency; and
• No patient assignments for charge nurses so that they can be a resource for other nurses.

“We want to give our patients the best care at all times, but that is difficult to do when we are stretched too thin,” said Nicki Horvat, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “Due to chronic short-staffing, charge nurses across the hospital are taking full patient assignments on a daily basis. In the NICU, for example, this means that they are less available to help when a sick baby has an emergency or is newly admitted into the unit. This then delays the nursing care our other babies need.”

Nurses have held multiple rallies over the last 18 months of negotiations. Instead of investing in nursing staff, Ascension has entered a definitive agreement to acquire ambulatory surgery provider Amsurg for almost $4 billion, adding more than 250 ambulatory surgery centers across 34 states, including Maryland, to Ascension’s outpatient portfolio.

NNOC represents more than 600 nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.