Registered nurses at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston voted by an overwhelming margin Thursday to join the Maine State Nurses Association. Prime Healthcare suspended or fired 20 nurses in the leadup to the vote.
Of the 204 nurses who voted, 91% supported the union effort. Many had spent the past month picketing and advocating for patient care and improvements at the hospital.
Their employer, Prime Healthcare, disciplined or discharged 20 nurses, saying they abandoned patients and used unethical methods to distribute union materials in the hospital.
The Maine State Nurses Association has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that Prime Healthcare illegally retaliated against nurses for the union effort.
Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, and other state and local leaders have called for an investigation into Prime’s actions as well as its handling of patient care in the wake of the nurses suspensions and firings.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.