Hospital, nurses fail to reach agreement

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
TAKING A STAND — Judith Eastham is a staff nurse on the bargaining team in protracted contract negotiations with Houlton Regional Hospital. “We are kind of at a stalemate,” said Eastham at a candlelight vigil last Tuesday. The nurses are asking for additional staff on two units and guarantees that their insurance costs won’t go up.
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Following weeks of negotiations and a candlelight vigil on Jan. 25, nurses and administration representatives at Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH) still have not come to an agreement, leaving the nurses working without a contract. “We are kind of at a stalemate,” stated Judith Eastham, an HRH staff nurse. She added that the nurses are asking for more “hands to do the work” in the emergency room and on the long-term care unit. The nurses’ contract with HRH was up at the end of December.
    In the sub-freezing weather, a handful of nurses and supporters held candles and signs last Tuesday evening at the corner leading to HRH. One sign read “Support your nurses”; another “Safe staffing now.”
    At 5:30 p.m., the scheduled start time for their vigil, there were only two who showed up, then three and, within the hour, the number grew to about 15 to make a case for their concerns about staffing and health insurance. Horns from several passing cars blared in apparent support of their cause, overpowering the normal sounds of nighttime traffic on U.S. Route 1.
Insurance a sticking point 
    “We have accepted a price freeze, a wage freeze. But, we have also asked the hospital to put a freeze on our insurance costs. They are refusing to do that,” explained Eastham. “They are saying the insurance may go up in June or July. But, they won’t guarantee us that we won’t actually be taking a pay cut because of it.”
    Eastham is a 33-year veteran nurse at HRH who is also on the negotiating team. “We would need one extra person on the night shift in both areas — the emergency room and the long-term care unit — two additional positions. It takes more than one person to cover 24 hours, seven days a week,” Eastham continued. That translates, she said, into probably six total people which would mean three nurses per unit.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
SIGNS OF SUPPORT — Signs sit on the ground in front of demonstrators during the candlelight vigil.
    Vanessa Sylvester, a staff person for the Maine State Nurses Association, is also on the bargaining team. “They say they don’t have money. We don’t understand what the problem is with the hospital and why they are not listening to us. We have asked for information on their finances and they haven’t given us all that we need,” Sylvester stated.
HRH statement
    Tom Moakler, CEO for the hospital, declined several opportunities for an interview with the Pioneer Times. However, he released a statement: “Houlton Regional Hospital does not believe it is appropriate to negotiate with the nurses union either in the newspapers or on the television.
    Staffing levels throughout the hospital are appropriate to ensure patient safety.
    The Board of Trustees believes the nursing salaries and benefits are competitive. We are concerned about debt that the state of Maine owes the hospital and how the state will address the significant budget deficit it faces and the potential impact on the financial stability of the hospital.”
Future negotiations
    Tina Brown has been a nurse for six years and said she has been on office duty for about a year following an injury she incurred on the acute care unit after tripping over a monitor cord. “Patient safety means a lot to us. We are asking for new positions,” she said. Although Brown does not acknowledge any current jeopardy to patient care, she cautioned that it could happen “because nurses are going to be more tired because we are having to do more.”
    At the vigil there was general agreement that dragging out contract negotiations benefits no one. But, if that does become the case, Eastham said, “we would have to think of some other creative ways to get them to listen to us.”