As University of Maine nursing students prepare to enter Maine’s health care workforce, nurses at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) voted 204-21 on Sept. 24 to join the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC), following concerns over working conditions and allegations of retaliation.
The vote comes as UMaine nursing students prepare to enter a workforce where labor conditions are increasingly under scrutiny. Four out of five alumni in the nursing program report working within an hour of their hometown, and 93% begin their careers in Maine, according to internal student demographic and project evaluation data shared with the Maine Campus.
In a Sept. 25 press release announcing the vote, National Nurses United (NNU) shared that “since Prime began operating CMMC, nurses have cited increased patient loads, a lack of necessary patient care supplies… and unilateral cuts to nurses’ pay and benefits.”
Efforts began in response to Prime Healthcare, a for-profit health care company, purchasing the hospital. According to a July 12 Bangor Daily News article, Central Maine Healthcare lost 572 employees within the first five months of Prime Healthcare’s ownership.
“We are beyond thrilled to win our union election. Prime Healthcare thought they could silence us,” registered nurse Aaron McDaniel said in a separate Sept. 24 NNU press release. “We’re so proud to join NNOC because we know we will win a contract that will make a drastic difference for our patients and for us as nurses to build a healthier community.”
According to statements from NNU, before the union vote, registered nurses at CMMC held an informational picket in support of striking NNU nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital in Illinois and the six nurses there who had been fired. Subsequently, 20 CMMC nurses faced disciplinary action, with 15 being fired. One nurse, Katie Grinnell, said that CMMC suspended her without pay within the same night that she attended the picket. The union has criticized this move as illegal.
Prime Healthcare has denied that the disciplinary actions were related to union activity, maintaining that the employees violated hospital policies and standards, according to reporting by Maine Public.
“Their cruelty toward us just made us stronger,” Grinnell stated in the Sept. 25 NNU press release. “We are more determined than ever to win improvements to the lives of nurses and patients at our hospital. Prime should not profit off the backs of us nurses, at the expense of our patients.”
This follows eight months of bargaining by unionized nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC), resulting in a final tentative agreement, as well as a vote by unionized nurses at Maine Medical Center to ratify a new contract. With this union vote, the three biggest hospitals in the state each now have chapters representing MSNA/NNOC.
The Maine Campus reached out to fourth-year nursing student Nadia Tarbell for comment via email.
“As a nurse, it is our duty to advocate for and provide the best patient care we can, and this situation has reinforced the importance of having a workplace where nurses feel supported and comfortable speaking up about concerns,” Tarbell wrote in the email. “Although this situation makes me concerned about entering the profession, it also reminds me how important it is for nurses to stand together and advocate for the changes needed to protect both themselves and their patients.”
Tarbell expressed trepidation about the prospect of a private healthcare company owning a hospital she worked at, positing that it could result in nurses having greater access to resources and funding, but may also result in a prioritization of profit over patient outcomes.
“If the nurses at CMMC are successful in creating meaningful changes through unionization, it could inspire nurses at other hospitals to consider the possibility as well, leading to greater conversation about staffing, compensation, workplace safety and patient care,” Tarbell wrote. “Ultimately, supporting nurses and advocating for better working conditions is essential because nurses spend more time directly with patients than other healthcare professionals and their working conditions have a direct impact on patient safety, quality of care and the overall patient experience.”
Following the vote, nurses at CMMC will begin selecting representatives for their bargaining team and preparing to negotiate their first collective bargaining agreement with Prime Healthcare, according to MSNA.
