Registered nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) in Fort Kent, Maine, voted tonight to re-certify their union formed in 2024, rejecting an NMMC management-backed attempt to dissolve their union. The nurses are members of Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU).

“We are proud to win our second vote in favor of our union. When we first voted to join the union, we knew that we faced an uphill battle against a hospital administration that did not want its power to be challenged in any way,” said Courtney Moreira, RN at NMMC and a member of the union bargaining team. “Two years later, and after constant fear of retaliation from the hospital administration, we have now voted twice for our union. We’re not giving up. Our union is here to stay.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-union organization based in Virginia, is behind the effort to decertify the union. Nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland faced a similar challenge from the organization in 2022 and voted to keep their union, too. 

This vote comes during ongoing contract negotiations that began nearly two years ago. In that time, several union nurses have reported bullying and retaliation by certain hospital administrators. On March 28, 2025, NMMC CEO Jeff Zewe told nurses that they were denied a pay increase that was given to all other hospital employees, specifically because they voted to form their union. Nurses also report that their union flyers have been pulled down by management and that union materials like buttons, lanyards, and other items have been removed from their personal lockers without permission.

“Our union is about standing up for our patients, for ourselves, and for everyone in our community,” said Terry Caron, RN and another member of the union bargaining team at NMMC. “We can have a hospital that is a great place for all of us. But the administration must bargain a contract with us in good faith and give us and our patients the respect we deserve.”

The Maine State Nurses Association represents over 4,000 nurses and caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent and is affiliated with National Nurses Organizing Committee, the largest and fastest-growing union for registered nurses in the United States.

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.