Members of the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee are set to begin a two-day strike Nov. 18 at Houlton Regional Hospital.
The union represents 55 nurses at the hospital, according to MSNA/NNOC. Houlton Regional has about 400 employees total.
Union members voted to authorize a strike in September. The union and hospital have been in contract negotiations for more than a year.
In May, Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent and Houlton Regional finalized a new one-year management agreement, under which NMMC will provide executive management to Houlton Regional. Both critical access hospitals remain independent, each with their own board.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, hospital leaders said that since the agreement was finalized, “there has been significant work completed related to increasing access and stabilizing finances. Houlton Regional Hospital employees are among the lowest paid in the county and the new administration recognized this on their first day. Since the new administration has started, HRH has begun the process of increasing wages to market levels and improving benefits for all employees, including offering the nurses significantly higher increases than the union had originally requested.”
Hospital leaders also said Houlton Regional and Northern Maine Medical Center have been expanding, hiring more employees and adding new services.
Additionally, Houlton Regional management has met regularly with the union and “made a fair and competitive offer that includes a substantial wage increase over the duration of the contract, along with enhancements to employee benefits,” according to CEO Jeff Zewe.
Union representatives contend that staffing shortages in the emergency department have been an ongoing issue, particularly during the night shift. They also said members are concerned about the closure of the hospital’s inpatient labor and delivery unit and that it is putting patient safety at risk.
“This is a close community; our patients are our neighbors,” Tenille Nason, RN, said in the union release. “We have seen over the last five years the emergency department consistently filled with sicker patients. To provide optimal, timely care, sicker patients require additional staffing, but staffing has not changed. We need to do better for our community.”
Michael MacArthur, RN, added that nurses seek “a strong contract that protects us and our patients and attracts and retains excellent nurses.”
