PORTLAND, Maine — Nurses at Maine Medical Center have reached a "tentative agreement" on their first union contract, according to negotiators.
The news was shared in an announcement to union members Wednesday obtained by NEWS CENTER Maine and confirmed by Maine State Nurses Association representative Todd Ricker.
It stated that under the agreement bargaining unit nurses would receive a pay increase of seven percent during the first year of the contract and union security. All nurses would receive a cumulative 15 percent raise over the next three years.
This would be in addition to substantial pay raises announced by the MaineHealth system in July.
"The center of this is for us to be able to take care of our patients and feel good about taking care of our patients," said Jonica Frank, a circulating nurse in the operating room. "This is the foundation. We have literally laid the foundation for years and years of job security and patient safety here at this hospital."
The two sides met more than 30 times to negotiate. The items that took the most time to hammer out were pay raises and "union security." It requires all nurses to pay a member fee or a partial service fee, because the union legally must represent all nurses.
"You're still guaranteed those services. We're going to fight for you whether you wanted us here or not. In your time of need, we're going to stand behind you and fight for you," Frank said.
Frank said this first contract creates several workplace safety valves, including an independent "Professional Practice Committee" to deal with patient safety and nurse practice issues, and ending the practice of mandatory rotating shifts, where nurses are forced to work day-shifts on some weeks and then night-shifts on other weeks.
"We did this because we want to take care of our patients," said Frank.
Frank says if nurses ratify this contract, they would not strike – unless hospital leaders violate the contract.
"We're not just walking away from some steel that is going to be there when we come back whenever our strike is over. These are patients. We feel that. It hurts us. If we were to ever think about a strike, it's serious and it takes a lot of thought and contemplation," said Frank.
Maine Medical Center further confirmed the tentative agreement in a news release on Thursday.
"Maine Medical Center is pleased to arrive at a tentative contract agreement with the union representing nurses at its Bramhall, Brighton, and Scarborough campuses," Chief Nursing Officer Devin Carr said in the release. "We are looking forward to a quick ratification by members of the bargaining unit.”
The tentative contract agreement comes after a vote in Augusta to keep the nurses union. Nurses voted 1,108 to 387 on Aug. 17 and 18 to recertify the union at Maine Medical Center.
The August vote was the second time nurses weighed in on keeping the union contract, and support rose by 14 percent within the last year and a half.
According to the announcement Wednesday, a final ratification vote to finalize the contract is set for next Wednesday and Thursday.
This story is developing and will be updated as information becomes available.