FORT KENT, Maine — Unionized nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent voted in favor of maintaining their union during an election on Wednesday. The vote comes after a decertification petition was circulated in late 2025.
“We are proud to win our second vote in favor of our union,” said Courtney Moreira, an NMMC nurse and member of the union bargaining team. “When we first joined the union, we knew that we faced an uphill battle against a hospital administration that did not want its power to be challenged in any way.”
The secret ballot election was originally scheduled to take place in late 2025, however it was delayed to Wednesday after the union challenged the validity of the petition and claimed that NMMC supervisors were involved in gathering signatures for the decertification petition. The nurses union later dropped this challenge, as they felt there was strong enough support for the union that the decertification vote would likely fail.
According to a press release issued by the Maine State Nurses Association after the vote, several union nurses have reported retaliation from hospital management, and were told that they were denied a pay increase given to all other hospital employees specifically because they voted to form a union. Nurses also reported that union flyers and materials were pulled down and removed from personal lockers without permission, according to the release.
The hospital, in a press release issued roughly one month ago, stated that while the decertification process expressly prohibits Northern Maine Medical Center from directly assisting nurses, they can and have provided nurses with “information on the process,” adding that they believe it is important for all nurses’ voices to be heard.
The hospital’s release added that nurses opposed to the union had sought legal counsel through the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-union organization.
Kim Paradis, a registered nurse in the emergency department, said she is proud to win the vote to keep the union, and that the decertification election was an attempt by management and the Right To Work group to get rid of the union.
This vote comes two years after the nurses voted in favor of unionization in January of 2024. Since that time, they have still not secured their first contract with the hospital. Unionized nurses in October of 2024 picketed over contract bargaining and alleged that management had not been bargaining in good faith. A spokesperson for the hospital said that hospital management had been bargaining in good faith and respects its nurses.
Looking ahead, Paradis said she and other nurses are more committed than ever and hope to get back to bargaining their first contract.
“We want management to listen to nurses,” she said. “We want a strong contract so we can recruit and retain experienced nurses and give your patients the best care.”