Houlton Regional Hospital registered nurses picketed outside the hospital Tuesday, beginning a two-day strike over the alleged refusal of the hospital administration to improve staffing, nurse retention and contract negotiations.
The nurses, represented by the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, carried signs with messages about patient care while they walked in a circle, chanted and sang.
Long wait times for emergency department patients, babies being delivered in the emergency department and stalled contract negotiations pushed the hospital’s 55 registered nurses to call the two-day strike, according to the Maine State Nurses union.
At noon, more than 40 nurses picketed near the hospital entrance, ringing bells and reciting, “Nurses united will never be defeated.”
And in a call-and-response chant they said, “Cuts in healthcare?” “No more.” “Cutting corners?” “No more.” “Stand up for patients?” “Right now.”
Chief Nursing Officer Traci Peabody said the emergency room has delivered one baby since Houlton Regional closed its obstetrical unit in May and that the average number of births has not increased.
“Our emergency room, on occasion, does have beds in the hallway,” Peabody said in a Tuesday letter to staff and the community. “This is done by design to ensure that patients are within view of medical professionals should they need assistance rather than stay in the waiting room.”
Registered nurse Michael MacArthur, who has worked at the Houlton hospital since 2009, said emergency department short staffing is an ongoing problem, particularly during the night shift, often leading to longer waits for patients.
“Basically what we’re doing is standing up for our patients,” Mac Arthur said last week. “We have concerns that we have addressed with the administration. We need a strong contract that protects us and our patients and attracts and retains excellent nurses.”
In September, registered nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent and Houlton Regional Hospital in Houlton authorized bargaining teams to call a strike if their contract negotiations with management didn’t move forward. The two hospitals have shared a management team since May.
The 55 union nurses have been working without a contract for nearly a year. The previous contract expired on Nov. 30, 2024.
There have been no changes in negotiations, MacArthur said.
The hospital received a formal 10-day notice of a strike on Nov. 7, which is required by law for unions who represent healthcare workers to allow the hospital to prepare for the strike, hospital spokesperson Nichole Jandreau said.
Jandreau said they remain in negotiations in good faith with the union, but it would be inappropriate for the hospital to bargain with the nurses in the media.
HRH nurses are among the lowest paid in the state, according to the nurses union.
Jandreau said while hospital officials are not privy to all registered nurse wages in Maine, they have been “very vocal regarding our understanding that our nurses are in need of a market adjustment.”
“We have been meeting regularly with the nurses’ representatives and have made a fair and competitive offer that includes a substantial wage increase over the duration of the contract, along with enhancements to employee benefits,” Jeff Zewe, chief executive officer of
Houlton Regional Hospital and Fort Kent’s Northern Maine Medical Center, said in a Tuesday statement.
The nurses will picket again Wednesday from 6:45 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner, hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, marched with the nurses Tuesday, urging them to hold the line and expressing solidarity with them.
“What the nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital are doing takes real guts,” said Platner. “They’re standing up because they know the stakes — for their coworkers, for their patients, and for this whole community. And when people who give every ounce of themselves say something’s wrong, our job is simple: stand with them. Show up. Link arms. Make it clear they’re not fighting alone. ”
Also present was former Senate President Troy Jackson. The Democrat from Allagash is running for governor.
“Whenever I’ve been sick or in the hospital, it’s the nurses who’ve had my back. Now, I get the chance to have theirs,” Jackson posted on social media from Houlton.