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Carl Sheline is the mayor of Lewiston.
Last week, Central Maine Medical Center ran a recruitment advertisement on its social media pages seeking registered nurses. For nurses with two or more years of experience, hospital management was apparently willing to offer a hefty $20,000 sign-on bonus.
“Join a collaborative team where your voice is heard, your expertise is respected, and your commitment to exceptional patient care is appreciated every day,” the Instagram post read.
Who do they think they’re fooling? I suspect very few.
In the weeks leading up to the Sept. 24 election in which CMMC nurses voted overwhelmingly to form a union, management fired or suspended 20 nurses. According to union organizers, at least one nurse was escorted out of the hospital in the middle of their shift.
The hospital says these nurses were disciplined for violating established policies and standards. I don’t buy it, and neither should you.
Prime Healthcare, CMMC’s new owner, has a reputation for aggressive union busting. The California-based, for-profit company owns 20 hospitals across the country, including several in Illinois. When nurses at three of its Illinois facilities began organizing, terminations followed, just like they did at CMMC.
After CMMC nurses voted to unionize, management could have voluntarily reinstated the disciplined nurses as a show of good faith. It would have gone a long way toward repairing the hospital’s tarnished reputation.
Instead, management has repeatedly wasted time and money trying to block the nurses’ organizing efforts at every turn. Even now, CMMC management is fighting to invalidate September’s vote, arguing, ironically, that allegations of union busting should have been investigated to ensure nurses could vote without interference.
The reality is that nine out of 10 nurses voted for the union despite management’s alleged attempts to interfere.
It’s not too late for CMMC to do the right thing. As the weeks drag on, the nurses and their families are increasingly feeling the financial strain. The holiday season is approaching, and these families should not have to worry about how they will pay their bills or put food on the table because their employers essentially chose to punish them for standing up for their rights.
At the very least, reinstating the 20 nurses and providing back pay would cost less than trying to lure new nurses with signing bonuses in the hope that they will overlook CMMC’s ocean of red flags that I see.
It would also cost less than relying on travel nurses to compensate for chronic understaffing. Hospitals often pay a premium for temporary nurses, whose travel, housing, and agency costs add up fast.
Rather than paying a small fortune to recruit nurses from out of state, CMMC could reinstate experienced nurses who already know the hospital, its patients, and the community it serves.
What I consider lip service won’t be enough to improve hospital staffing. If management wants prospective hires to believe their voices will be heard, their expertise respected, and their commitment to patient care appreciated, it needs to start acting like it. So far, its actions have demonstrated the opposite to me.
In its recruitment advertisement, CMMC emphasized the importance of investing in its nurses.
“You’ve invested years in becoming the nurse you are today,” the post read. “Now invest your future in a team that’s invested in you.”
What, then, does CMMC owe the 20 nurses who have collectively invested decades of their careers in the hospital?
Before the acquisition of CMMC by Prime Healthcare was finalized, I had an in-person meeting with Dr. Prem Reddy, the CEO of Prime Healthcare.
When I heard about the merger, I had concerns. But after our sincere conversation, I felt better about the future of the hospital. I no longer do.
I was told that Prime Healthcare was going to make substantial investments in CMMC, and maybe they have. But nurses have told me they don’t even have enough bed linens, the most basic of necessities. It’s unacceptable.
If CMMC management wants to repair its relationship with its staff and the community, I think they need to stop fighting the nurses’ organizing efforts and move forward to bargaining. I believe they must reinstate all 20 nurses and provide them with back pay.
Anything less would make its promises to current and prospective employees ring even hollower.