FORT KENT, Maine – Nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent voted in favor of unionizing and are now part of the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee. Wednesday’s vote resulted in 62 percent of 90 direct care nurses voting in favor of union representation.
Tiffani Daigle, who has been employed at NMMC for 10 years and worked as a nurse for the past five years, said she supports the union because it would allow nurses to have more of a voice in how they care for their patients.
With the union formed, the next immediate steps are to survey direct care nurses in each of the units and determine their priorities for negotiating a first contract. A team will then be elected to represent nurses in bargaining.
“And then, of course, we encourage administration to work with us to achieve a fair agreement that will only strengthen the delivery and quality of patient care which, in turn, will only benefit the hospital, the patients and the nurses,” Daigle said.
NMMC Marketing and Communications Director Kris Malmborg said on Thursday that the hospital administration acknowledges the nurses’ decision to unionize.
“NMMC remains steadfast in delivering excellent care to our community and we recognize and respect the dedication of all of our healthcare professionals who provide outstanding care on a daily basis,” he said.
Daigle works in the emergency room at the 49-bed acute care hospital, and said she and other nurses in that department often have to take care of patients on their worst days.
“We have to take care of all of their needs, really,” she said. “In the ER we do everything from lab draws to toileting our patients, meeting their needs on top of giving them medications and assessing them – all of the things that keep them safe.”
Daigle said she was inspired to unionize because it would give almost 100 nurses at the hospital a seat at the table and a say in decisions and policies that directly affect how they do their job.
Daigle said nurses officially filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Dec. 7.
She said the nurses’ major concerns are safe staffing, safe patient care, recruiting and retaining nurses, and having the best working conditions and standards across the board.
“It’s definitely going to help ensure our community receives the best, optimal, individual care that they deserve,” she said.
This story was updated to include comments from hospital spokesman Kris Malmborg.
