Maine Med nurses ratify first union contract

Courtesy / Maine State Nurses Assococation Nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland ratified their first union contract on Friday.

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By Renee Cordes

Registered nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland ratified their first-ever union contract on Friday that mandates wage increases and guarantees breaks and mealtimes.

The contract includes 15% across-the-board wage increases over three years, starting with 7% in the first three years of the agreement.

Other provisions include ending the practice of mandatory rotating shifts, where nurses are forced to work day shifts some weeks and three three night shifts during other weeks, and preventing nurses from being assigned to units for which they lack expertise or competency.

"So many Maine nurses have trained and worked at Maine Med over the years, including myself," said Cokie Giles, a registered nurse who serves as president of the Maine State Nurses Association, an Augusta-based group that represents 2,000 nurses at Maine Med, the state's largest hospital.

"These new union members are a true beacon of hope to nurses across our state who want to have the strong, united voice that they can have through being a part of our union," she added.

The move comes as widespread labor shortages across the U.S. economy enable more workers to flex their muscles. Increasingly, workers are forming new unions at employers including Chipotle, Trader Joe's and Starbucks. In Maine, the first Starbucks to unionize was in Biddeford in July.

'Tremendous gains'

Maine Med nurses first voted to form a union in April 2021, then voted to re-certify their union this past August. Earlier this month, the contract was approved by union members by a three-to-one margin.

"We feel the imperative of history in our vote," said Michele Flaherty, a pediatric ICU nurse and bargaining team member. "We stand in a long line of Maine Med nurses who have fought for their union over the past half a century."

Fellow bargaining team member Emily Wilder, a cardiac ICU nurse, said the group was overjoyed at support from their co-workers for the contract.

"We have made tremendous gains in patient safety protections and workplace improvements and have won raises that will really help us recruit and retain the nurses needed to care for our community," she said. "It's no surprise that a commanding majority of Maine Med nurses voted to approve our first union agreement."

Other contract provisions include minimum orientation times for newly graduated nurses and patient care protections, and two seats for union nurses on Maine Medical Center's standing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee.

On behalf of Maine Med, Chief Nursing Officer Devin Carr welcomed the contract ratification.

“We are grateful that MMC nurses have voted to ratify the tentative contract that hospital and union bargaining teams worked to develop over the course of the last year," Carr said in a statement emailed to Mainebiz. "The contract supports shared priorities including retention and recruitment of nurses and providing market-competitive wages and benefits. First contracts can be particularly complex, and the bargaining teams handled the process collaboratively and professionally. With our approved agreement in hand, we can move forward together in support of our mission, vision and commitment to providing high-quality patient care.”