More than 30 Howard Brown Health workers showed up on the picket line Tuesday at the Englewood clinic to kick off a two-day strike seeking better pay and working conditions.
More than 300 members of the Howard Brown Health Care Workers United are expected to show up at the picket line, organizer Sarah Hurd said. As of 1 p.m., more than 150 workers had showed up, Hurd said.
“Unfortunately Howard Brown leadership has continued to violate labor law again and again,” said Louis Spraggins, a partner services coordinator at Howard Brown’s Englewood clinic.
“It is unfortunate that our leadership does not want to come to the table and bargain with us in a fair way over a fair contract,” said Louis Spraggins, a partner services coordinator at Howard Brown’s Englewood clinic, at 641 W. 63rd St.
Spraggins said leadership has fired workers without negotiation with the union, made changes in working conditions without bargaining and noted the NLRB found merit or partial merit in January for the firing of 61 employees. As a result, all 61 workers were offered their positions back, with 24 taking the offer.
Demands from the union include a raise of the minimum hourly wageto $21 from $16.07, affordable health insurance, rights for the union to be at the table for decision-making, layoff protections and notices, overtime pay for shifts longer than eight hours, remote work options and negotiations before changes of job duties. Of those in the union who voted, 96% voted to strike.
Howard Brown has brought proposals, including a new minimum wage of $19.23 for retail employees, a 5.4% increase for base wages this year, a $1,200 contract signing bonus and expanded benefits for part-time staff, including two weeks paid leave for gender-affirming care, one new holiday and three to five weeks vacation, a spokesperson said in a statement Nov. 3.
“In the same way that our patients rely on us, we must provide our staff with the tools they need to best serve our community,” Katie Metos, vice president of external relations at Howard Brown Health, said in a statement. “Whether or not our staff choose to join the picket line this week, we will be ready on Thursday to come together and continue to serve our community in the ways that we know no one else can.”
The next bargaining session is Nov. 21. The union put Howard Brown’s most recent contract offer to vote starting Tuesday. The vote will conclude Sunday.
Spraggins, whose job includes sexual health counseling and contact tracing for sexually transmitted infections, said he also wants to see better benefits for employees.
Spraggins has HIV and said he had to opt for a different health care plan through Howard Brown, which focuses on LGBTQ+ care, because the insurance premiums were too expensive, making it more difficult for him to receive HIV-related care.
“It feels like a betrayal,” he said.
Brown Elephant retail workers, some of the lowest-paid employees at Howard Brown, at about $16 an hour, aren’t offered health care, Spraggins said. In negotiations, leadership offered Brown Elephant retail workers a health care plan that would cost them one third of their wages, he said.
Workers striking outside Howard Brown’s Englewood location brought special attention to the disparities workers faced on the South Side compared to their North Side counterparts.
“I would compare it to like if you had a stepchild or a foster child. That’s how they treat us on the South Side,” said Tiffany Foster-Mitchell, a lead medical assistant at Howard Brown Health at Thresholds South, 734 W. 47th St.
Foster-Mitchell said the clinics are “ran into the ground,” citing bed bugs, roaches and a lack of hot water as being problems at her clinic. She said it was frustrating to see Howard Brown Health open a $53 million clinic on the North Side, at 3501 N. Halsted St., when clinics on the South Side continue to have issues.
Another problem Foster-Mitchell has seen is people of color being the target of unfair labor practices, she said.
“Most of the people who are targeted here when it comes to discipline ... are Black and Brown at Howard Brown Health. Many times we find ourselves standing up for ourselves, fighting for ourselves,” Foster-Mitchell said.
“We have a diverse staff and diverse managers. We trend HR data across a number of areas and have no proof that disciplinary actions disproportionately targets Black and Brown staff,” CEO David Munar said.
Working for Howard Brown Health, a company whose mission focuses on equity in health care, while fighting for a living wage “is painful,” Foster-Mitchell said.
“You just can’t be a company that says that you stand for social justice or equal health care opportunities or equality in the workplace when you’re not doing any of that,” she said. “It hurts. It’s very painful to know that we’re not worth making sure that we get the basic livable wages, basic health care.”
Howard Brown Health refuted these claims, saying its human resources data shows there’s “no proof that disciplinary actions disproportionately targets Black and Brown staff” and Brown Elephant employees, if they worked 20 hours weekly, would pay 8.2% of each paycheck for healthcare at their new proposed wage rate of $19.23, according to Munar.
“I can understand their frustration,” Metos said of employee concerns with working conditions on the South Side. “Anytime something comes up, and again, stuff absolutely will come up, we’ve worked to address it immediately.”
This is the second strike by unionized workers at the LGBTQ+ focused Chicago health care facilities this year. In January, workers held a three-day strike, during which 440 workers protested the organization’s decision to lay off 61 union workers in the midst of contract negotiations.
The union has around 366 members and includes nurse practitioners, physician assistants, case managers and Brown Elephant employees. Organizers are expecting to see everyone on the picket lines, Peterson said.
The locations for the strike are 4025 N. Sheridan Road, 3501 N. Halsted St. and 641 W. 63rd St. Tuesday and Wednesday. The union will hold a rally at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Howard Brown’s Halsted clinic.
