Registered Nurse - Emergency Services

Nurses at Central Maine Medical Center vote to unionize with 91% approval. Nurses at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, voted 204-21 in favor of joining the Maine State Nurses Association on September 24, according to WGME. The 91% approval margin came after hospital management fired 15 nurses and suspended five others in the weeks leading up to the election. Healthcare workers at Central Maine Medical Center overwhelmingly approved union representation on September 24, with 204 voting yes and 21 voting no, despite the hospital's parent company Prime Healthcare firing 15 nurses and suspending five during the organizing campaign. Just under 300 nurses were eligible to vote in the election. The newly unionized workers will join the Maine State Nurses Association, which already represents 4,000 nurses across Maine. The union announced plans to file unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the terminated and suspended nurses. Federal lawmaker calls firings "illegal union busting" Congresswoman Chellie Pingree criticized Central Maine Medical Center's actions on September 23, labeling the firings as "illegal union busting." Prime Healthcare, the hospital's parent company, maintained that all disciplinary actions resulted from code of conduct violations rather than anti-union retaliation. Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline issued a statement on September 24 expressing support for the organizing effort. "The entire Lewiston community is proud to stand behind the nurses at CMMC and their right to unionize," Sheline said in the statement. Terminated and suspended nurses react to vote. Erin Bennett, one of the terminated nurses, responded to the election results at the vote count. "It felt like a really long fight but this win is huge, especially with everything that has been thrown at us," Bennett told WGME reporters on September 24. Aaron McDaniel, a suspended nurse, described the organizing campaign's outcome in similar terms. "We are elated. We are all celebrating that we came through with a 91% victory. We couldn't expect anything better," McDaniel said. The timing of the disciplinary actions - 15 firings and five suspensions during an active organizing campaign - drew scrutiny from labor advocates and elected officials. Prime Healthcare did not respond to requests for comment on the election results or the pending unfair labor practice charges. What happens next. The Maine State Nurses Association will now enter contract negotiations with Central Maine Medical Center management. The union's first priority will be filing unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB over the firings and suspensions that occurred during the organizing drive. If the Board finds merit in the charges, it could order Prime Healthcare to reinstate the terminated nurses with back pay and post remedial notices throughout the facility. The 91% approval margin gives union negotiators a strong mandate heading into first-contract talks. Healthcare worker organizing has accelerated across the United States since 2024, with successful campaigns at hospital systems from California to Vermont. The Central Maine Medical Center victory adds momentum to that trend in a region where healthcare employers have historically resisted unionization efforts. Union representatives told WGME the fired and suspended nurses will remain active in the organizing effort regardless of their employment status. Central Maine Medical Center management has not publicly stated whether it will appeal the election results or negotiate in good faith with the newly certified bargaining unit. The Union Edge Staff Also in the paper

St. Francis union election on hold for now. The National Labor Relations Board agreed Monday to cancel a scheduled union election at St. Francis Hospital this week after additional complaints were filed by the national nurses' union alleging the hospital had violated the National Labor Relations Act, which they said could interfere with a free and fair election. In a statement on Monday, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, part of National Nurses United, the union working to unionize nurses at St Francis, wrote that the NLRB's Chicago office blocked the Sept. 17 union election "in light of credible allegations that a free and fair election is not possible at this time due to Prime Healthcare's substantial and flagrant violations of the National Labor Relations Act." Prime Healthcare and its nonprofit wing, Prime Healthcare Foundation, which owns St. Francis, have been accused by the union and nurses at the hospital of unfair labor practices, including interrogation, threats, surveillance and suspending and then firing a nurse who spoke about the unionization efforts at the hospital. The hospital, in a statement Tuesday, disputed the allegations made by the union "in seeking to suspend the election," adding, "We remain committed to working constructively with our nurses and addressing concerns in the best interests of our patients and community." The nurses' union accused the hospital of surveilling nurses who have spoken with union staff and eliminating per diem RN positions while "interrogating them about their support for the union." The NNOC filed a complaint with the NRLB on Sept. 8, as did Emily Isakson, an intensive care unit nurse who spoke with the press and was subsequently suspended by the hospital. According to a statement from the nurses' union, Isakson has now been fired as well and the union sought to delay the election in a later filing with the NLRB. On Monday, the NLRB Chicago regional director, Angie Cowan Hamada, agreed to cancel the election, citing the allegations made by the union as "a sufficient offer of proof in support of these allegations which describes evidence that, if proven, could affect employee free choice in an election." "It is clear that Prime is scared and desperate, because when we do hold our election, we will win our union and be able to put our patients before profits," Isakson said, according to the statement. "Prime's bullying tactics will not work on me or other St. Francis nurses. We will never stop advocating for our patients." Multiple nurses who spoke with Evanston Now late last month described cut hours and surveillance by hospital administration after nurses filed a petition with the NLRB, requesting a union election for 275 full-time and part-time nurses at the hospital, which was scheduled to take place Thursday. Prime Healthcare spokesperson Mike Deering wrote in a statement that the hospital respects "the rights of every nurse to engage in legally protected activity and to make their own individual decision about union representation, including the right to support a union or to choose to remain in a direct relationship with the Hospital." "Many S. Francis nurses have openly expressed their desire to remain non-union, and their voices and rights deserve the same respect and protection as those of nurses who support union representation," Deering wrote. "Suspending the election denies nurses the opportunity to make that choice for themselves through a fair vote. We believe every nurse should be heard and that the outcome should ultimately be determined by the nurses." Prime Healthcare previously said that it felt the union was "placing its own interests of building up its membership, financial resources and political clout ahead of what is best for our nurses, our patients or the communities we are working to protect and rebuild," while accusing the union of "attempting to take advantage of" the hospital's transition period since its sale in 2025. It was not immediately when a union election would be held, though the union's original NLRB case seeking an election remains open as of Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the nurses, in a statement, said it was their position "that the nurses should be able to have a free and fair election and nurses are still actively organizing toward that."

NLRB blocks union election due to Prime Healthcare's illegal interference with nurses' right to unionize. National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United September 14, 2026 Prime management has unlawfully suspended and fired a nurse, conducted illegal surveillance, interrogated nurses while eliminating positions. Today the National Labor Relations Board's Region 13 Office in Chicago moved to block the originally scheduled Sept. 17 NLRB union election at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., in light of credible allegations that a free and fair election is not possible at this time due to Prime Healthcare's substantial and flagrant violations of the National Labor Relations Act, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the nation. Saint Francis is one of the eight Prime hospitals in Illinois that Prime Healthcare acquired from Ascension in 2025. After Saint Francis nurses petitioned the NLRB for their union election on Aug. 24, Prime management has unlawfully suspended and fired a nurse, conducted illegal surveillance of nurses who have spoken with union staff, and eliminated up to 45 per diem RNs' (PRN) positions while interrogating them about their support for the union. (Per diem nurses work on an as needed basis.) NNOC filed charges on Sept. 8 and is seeking injunctive relief, which the NLRB could include in its immediate remedy. "After advocating for patients in my community, Prime Healthcare fired me," said Emma Isakson, RN. "It is clear that Prime is scared and desperate, because when we do hold our election, we will win our union and be able to put our patients before profits. Prime's bullying tactics will not work on me or other Saint Francis nurses. We will never stop advocating for our patients." Nurses across the country are organizing and speaking up systemwide against Prime Healthcare because Prime endangers patients and nurses by putting profits above all else. RNs at two other Prime Healthcare facilities, Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, also filed union election petitions on Aug. 24 because they know that only through unionization can they force Prime to address their concerns about patient care and safe staffing. On Sept. 3, nurses at four Prime hospitals across three states - West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California; Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California - held one-day strikes to protest Prime's refusal to address deep concerns about patient care and safe staffing. Prime's illegal retaliation against nurses for speaking up for patients - suspending six nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital and one nurse at Saint Francis, and firing six nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth - has spurred nurses at Olympia Fields to announce a strike on Sept. 15 and for nurses and health care workers at three Prime Healthcare hospitals in two states - Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada; West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California; and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California - to announce a sympathy strike on Sept. 15 in solidarity with striking nurses at Olympia Fields. Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital and at Central Maine Medical Center will hold informational pickets in solidarity with Olympia Fields RNs on the same day. The RNs are part of a national union movement to fight for safe staffing and optimal patient care throughout the entire Prime Healthcare system. The suspensions and firing are just one aspect of Prime's mistreatment of patient advocates. Learn more about Prime's crimes at crimehealthcare.com. Prime's Profiteering The conditions driving Prime nurses to take unprecedented collective action at their hospitals are part of a broader pattern of Prime negligence and cutting services despite its profits. Prime has a history of acquiring hospitals and then cutting services after it promised to maintain them. * On Sept. 1, 2026, Prime announced that it would suspend obstetric services at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago and consolidate them at Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago and Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Ill. U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood accused Prime of putting "profits over patients" and of having "no plans" to help patients travel miles to receive obstetrics care. * Less than two months after it acquired St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee, Ill., in March 2025, Prime shut down the hospital's obstetrics, gynecology, childbirth and delivery services and voluntarily gave up the facility's Level II trauma designation, resulting in an injunction filed by the Kankakee County State's Attorney, claiming that Prime was dishonest about keeping all services open for 18-24 months after acquisition. * Prime cut services in May 2025 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. and in April 2025 at Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Ill., soon after acquisition, leading to a letter to Prime CEO Prem Reddy from Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin accusing the company of violating its commitments to maintain services to meet community needs. Prime greatly benefits financially from Prime Healthcare Foundation, its nonprofit hospital system. * In 2024, Prime Healthcare Foundation gave more than $104 million in business to firms owned by the Reddy family - Prime Healthcare Services Inc., Prime Healthcare Management, and Bio-Med Services, Inc., according to its Form 990. CEO Prem Reddy is the founder of Prime Healthcare. * Prime's nonprofit hospital system only provided $3.5 million in uncompensated charity care for patients in 2024, about 0.4 percent of the foundation's expenses. * In 2024, Prime Healthcare Foundation claimed more than $78 million in debts they tried to collect from patients who qualified for charity care. National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.