This story will be updated.
Nurses, lab workers and radiology staffers at Calais Regional Hospital plan to go on strike for two days next week, ratcheting up an ongoing labor dispute that also included a recent call for the hospital’s CEO to be fired.
The strike will take place next week on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a written notice that the Maine State Nurses’ Association, the union representing the workers, provided to the hospital on Friday and is included in the hospital’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy file. The staff members would return to their jobs on Friday morning, Nov. 20, for shifts starting at 7 a.m.
The union has about 50 members at the Calais hospital, including registered nurses, medical laboratory scientists, laboratory technologists and radiology technologists. The group initially authorized a strike in 2019 as part of a stalled contract negotiation, but decided to hold off on striking after the hospital declared bankruptcy that September. Nurses at the hospital have been working without a new contract since the fall of 2018.
In a statement on the hospital’s website, administrators said they were “very saddened that union members have chosen to strike” in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a recent spike in infections in Washington County, including among a half-dozen of the hospital’s workers.
The hospital said it has a plan to keep operating if the union proceeds with the strike, relying on non-union staff and possibly some temporary skilled nurses and technicians. But the facility may have to delay some non-essential services, including testing for COVID-19 and elective procedures, according to the statement.
“Last year Hospital administration began developing a detailed plan to respond to a strike notice and is confident that essential hospital services will be able to continue as usual,” the statement said. “Knowing a short strike is a common tactic of the union, we felt it was our due diligence to be prepared for this scenario.”
A union member was not immediately available to comment, and the written notice of a strike did not outline any specific reasons for its timing. But the union has made clear its frustration with the management and working conditions at Calais Regional Hospital.
Late last month, 84 percent of the union’s members voted that they have no confidence in CEO Rod Boula and called for the hospital’s board to terminate him, arguing that he has mismanaged the hospital’s finances, placed unreasonable burdens on staff and eliminated vital services.
In addition to providing testing and treatment in response to the COVID-19 cases now spreading through the community, the hospital also contended with serious cash shortfalls during the early days of the pandemic, when it had to postpone a number of nonessential services. At one point, it said it would lay off 10 percent of its staff and, without additional financial assistance, might have to close in the early summer.
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Calais hospital staffers plan to strike as labor dispute escalates - Bangor Daily News
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