Howard Brown Health workers offered job reinstatement following union settlement

Howard Brown Health workers and their supporters march during an unfair labor practice strike outside Howard Brown Health Sheridan in the Uptown neighborhood in January. Sixty-one workers were illegally laid off on December 30, 2022, according to Margo Gislain of the Illinois Nurses Association. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times (file))

Having reached a settlement, Howard Brown Health on Tuesday announced its intention to reinstate 24 employees and provide back pay to more than 30 others who had been laid off in an attempt to cut costs at the LGBTQ health care center.

The health care center, which eliminated 61 union workers in January during contract negotiations to bridge a $12 million revenue shortfall, engaged in bad faith bargaining during contract negotiations with the Howard Brown Health Workers United union, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Now, the center is seeking to repair its relationship with the union and said it would continue to negotiate with union leaders to reach a mutually agreeable contract.