Maine Med nurses launch attempt to unionize, as organizing in profession increases
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The Maine State Nurses Association this week petitioned to represent 1,600 nurses at Maine Medical Center, in Portland.
Nurses at Maine Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital, are attempting to unionize after a similar attempt failed eight years ago.
The Maine State Nurses Association seeks to represent 1,600 full-time, part-time and per diem registered nurses at the Portland medical center, according to the union’s petition this week with the National Labor Relations Board.
The MSNA did not respond to repeated inquiries from Mainebiz, but on Thursday Maine Med urged nursing staff to be cautious in the organizing attempt.
“We respect our nurses’ right to consider voting to organize, and encourage them to do so in an election. However, MMC opposes this petition,” MMC President Jeff Sanders said in a prepared statement.
“We believe we are in the best position to work with our nurses to provide remarkable care for our patients and a high-quality, respectful workplace without a third party. There are no guarantees as to what a union can do for our nurses in terms of pay, benefits and working conditions.”
Maine Med “works continuously” to provide competitive compensation and professional rewards, the statement said.
None of Maine Med’s 10,000 employees are currently union members, a hospital spokesman told Mainebiz. Nurses have tried to organize at least twice before at the 637-bed medical center, the flagship facility of the MaineHealth system. Efforts in both 2013 and 2000 failed.
At Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, a 411-bed hospital operated by Northern Light Health, the MSNA has represented nurses since the 1970s. The EMMC nurses went on strike in 2010 for the first time because of concerns about patient-staff ratios.
Nurses at 25-bed Calais Regional Hospital threatened to walk off their jobs in November 2020 in an ongoing dispute over benefits and management, but the strike was averted.
While nurses for decades shunned unions, there's been growing interest in them over recent years. Driven by dissatisfaction with the U.S. health care system, increasing professional burnout, and now crises such as COVID-19, nurses are fully part of organized labor. The California Nurses Association in 2019 reported that its membership had grown 400% over the previous 15 years to a record 100,000.
About 20% percent of the country’s registered nurses and 10% of licensed practical nurses are union members, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Maine State Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United, is the state’s largest nurses union, with roughly 2,000 members.
A vote on the nurse unionizing attempt at Maine Med could take place in February, according to reports.
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