Nurses call off strike that had been scheduled for Monday March 23 

After bargaining for eight months for improvements in health, safety, and economic language in their union contract, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) nurses have announced a final tentative agreement with their administration. The nurses’ strike, which had been scheduled for this coming Monday, is called off. EMMC nurses are represented by Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. 

“EMMC came at us particularly hard this time around,” said Erin Oberson, a labor and delivery RN and member of the bargaining team. “Until the very last minute, they insisted on huge takeaways from us. They also wanted to decrease paid time off (PTO) and eliminate the pension for new nurses. Not only did we beat back every one of their concessionary demands, but we won new safety protections for all nurses and patients, and made real economic improvements as well.” 

Nurses credit their final success in this agreement to their solidarity and the imminent threat of a strike. Bargaining team member Diane Alexander, union chief steward and bargaining team member said: “We were ready to strike because the hospital insisted to the very end that we give up some of the foundational elements of our current union contract. These included the protections we have against our health care costs skyrocketing and punishing new nurses with lower PTO accruals. We were not willing to sell out ourselves or new nurses to win this contract.  In the end, we kept everything we had before and got many new improvements, as well.” 

Pay increases for every union nurse range from 12 to 17 percent over the next three years. Nurses also won increases in several pay differentials and were able to ban all weapons from the hospital building.  

EMMC nurses will vote to ratify this contract on March 25, 2026. 

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.