Unionized nurses working at Aroostook County’s largest hospital have agreed to a new three-year contract, after working without a deal for months and staging a strike in July.
On November 10, The Aroostook Medical Center and the Maine State Nurses Association agreed to a new three-year contract that includes wage increases, more generous parental leave and expanded recruiting incentives for new nurses.
“Both the TAMC leadership team and our nurses worked together to reach this agreement for the benefit of our nurses, our patients and our community,” said Roland Joy, chief nursing officer at TAMC, in a media release.
Citing high patient workloads with more acute patients, nurses at TAMC staged a weekend strike in July with the Maine State Nurses Association, which represents about 160 nurses at the hospital. They were seeking wage increases, more staffing of nurses during shifts and better recruitment efforts to lower the use of travel nurses hired from out-of-state.
TAMC, a part of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, hired 33 temporary nurses and drew on registered nurses in management positions to keep the hospital open during the two-day strike.
The new agreement includes wage increases of between 11 and 15 percent over the three years, improved parental leave and staffing and scheduling said Vanessa Sylvester, spokesperson for the MSNA.
There is also a provision stating that both the hospital and union “share the mutual goals of limiting the use of travelers.” Travel nurses emerged as a bone of contention last summer, as the union argued that the hospital should invest in long-term nursing staff rather than paying for travel nurses from out-of-state who are hired on short-term contracts.
TAMC officials have said that travel nurses comprise about 7 percent of the hospital’s nursing workforce and that they’ve been necessary to fill gaps during a nationwide and local nursing shortage.
Under the agreement, hospital leaders and a union representative will meet regularly to talk about nursing job openings, recruitment efforts and hiring progress.
