Union contends illegal behavior by hospital and intend to file objections with NLRB

Registered nurses at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, Md. voted on whether to join National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the country’s largest nurses union, in an election held on Oct. 14 and 15, 2026. The results were inconclusive at the end of the night, with challenged ballots still to be resolved. 

Whatever the final outcome, nurses at MedStar Franklin Square and NNOC/NNU do not believe this was a free and fair election. Because of the employer’s illegal interference during the runup to the election, NNOC/NNU intends to file objections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the coming days.

“Right now we have an inconclusive result, but we are confident we will eventually prevail. This is a prime example of the lengths that hospital corporations will go to silence nurses,” said Sandy Reding, RN and president of NNOC. “MedStar Health was willing to spend enormous sums of money on expensive lawyers to union bust, instead of using that money to address the patient care needs in their hospital. They were even willing to break the law to stop us from unionizing and that is disgraceful. But rest assured, we will not give up on the patients at MedStar Franklin Square.” 

Nurses say they faced an aggressive anti-union campaign by management in the months preceding the election. The campaign included management interrogating nurses about union support, surveilling nurses, and using security to block nurses from speaking with coworkers. Based on previous contracts reported to the U.S. Department of Labor, NNU estimates MedStar Health spent between $28,000 to $40,000 per week on professional union busting efforts. 

More than 900 nurses are in the bargaining unit at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center. NNOC/NNU currently represents more than 2,200 nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.  

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.