Northern Light EMMC nurses to strike on March 23

Bangor nurses to be locked out by management lockout after one-day strike

Registered nurses at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) in Bangor, Maine, will hold a one-day strike on Monday, March 23 to protest management's refusal to address their concerns about safe staffing and nurse retention. EMMC nurses, who are represented by Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC), delivered their strike notice to management on March 12.

On March __, management told nurses that they would be locked out for an additional two days following their one-day strike. The nurses have been bargaining for a new contract since July 2025, with little to no movement on key issues.

"Every day, nurses see the effects of unsafe staffing on our patients," said MaryBeth Kelson, RN and member of the negotiating team. "When the hospital refuses to listen to us, we have no choice but to make our voices heard by whatever means we have available to us. Right now, that means withholding our labor for one day. "

Who: Registered nurses at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center
What: One-day strike for patient safety and a fair contract
When: Monday, March 23, 7 a.m. to Tuesday, March 24, 6:59 a.m., with picketing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., rally with speakers at noon
Where: Northern Light EMMC, 489 State St., Bangor, Maine

Nurses say that unresolved bargaining issues include ensuring safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, protecting nurses' health insurance benefits from potentially exorbitant increases, ensuring all nurses receive same benefits (new nurses are slated to receive fewer benefits), and ending EMMC's pay discrimination against women's health care nurses so their pay scale is on par with all other union nurses. The women's health nurses joined the union in 2024.

"We are health care workers," said Nichole Oliver, RN and negotiating team member. "It makes no sense that we cannot afford our own health care. We are advocating for ourselves and our families, and for all the nonunion workers in our hospital who also face rapidly increasing health care costs."

Union nurses will show up, ready for work at EMMC at 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24. Nurses welcome members of the press to join them as they attempt to return to work at 7 a.m.

On Jan. 16, EMMC nurses held a rally outside the hospital to highlight their contract demands. MSNA/NNOC represents 900 nurses at Northern Light EMMC and over 4,000 nurses and caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent.

Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide.