RNs to strike for four days to protest emergency department staffing

Registered nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH) in Houlton, Maine, will begin a four-day strike on Tuesday, May 26, to protest management’s refusal to address their deep concerns about emergency department (ED) staffing and its impact on patient care, announced Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC).

After the closure of labor and delivery services on May 2, 2025, HRH nurses had reached an agreement with the hospital to increase RN staffing to three nurses at all times in the emergency department in anticipation of pregnant patients showing up with urgent cases there. However, new management took over at the end of May 2025 and is not honoring the agreement to ensure patient safety. Currently, only two nurses are scheduled from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. daily.

“We have patients, including patients in labor, who come to the ED, who require at least two nurses to meet their needs,” said Tenille Nason, RN in the emergency department. “The ED staffing agreement was a compromise, but we felt it addressed our biggest concern, which was made even more critical by the closure of labor and delivery. Without an additional nurse, who will take care of the rest of the patients in the emergency department?”

Who: Registered nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital
What: Four-day strike for emergency department staffing
When: Tuesday, May 26, 6:45 a.m. to Saturday, May 29, 6:44 a.m.
Where: HRH, 20 Hartford St., Houlton, Maine

The nurses gave HRH notice of their strike on May 15, allowing the hospital to make alternative plans for patient care. In November 2025, nurses held a two-day strike. HRH nurses have been negotiating for over a year and a half for a new contract. The previous contract expired on Nov. 30, 2024.

“What’s inexplicable is that we had an agreement on increasing emergency department staffing after the OB unit was closed,” said Jess McBride, RN in the emergency department. “Our local managers understood our concerns, but new management has refused to honor the agreement. We want to staff our ED with at least three nurses on at all times so we can safely handle everything that comes through - day or night.”

“The emergency department is very much like staffing the fire department or ambulance services. You don’t know when the influx of patients is going to occur, but you need enough nurses to safely take care of them whenever it does,” said Tenille Nason, RN in the emergency department. “This issue had been resolved, so the fact that it remains an ongoing issue after all this time is mind-boggling.”

MSNA/NNOC represents 55 nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital.

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.