Governor Janet Mills spoke out this week about a Portland hospital s decision to use Maine COVID-19 vaccines to protect out-of-state contractors.
MaineHealth offered the vaccine to consultants who came to Maine for an informational session, according to the hospital. WMTW-TV says the employees of Reliant Labor Consultants were brought to Maine just as the nurses at the hospital were considering a strike. MaineHealth has since acknowledged that they offered the vaccine, as part of providing it to all frontline workers in their hospital.
Governor Janet Mills released a statement on Tuesday, condemning the decision by MaineHealth, calling it an inexcusable act. She said we have a limited supply and so must prioritize its distribution to those most in need. At this point, that includes frontline workers and people over 70, who are most at risk of complications.
“It’s time we blow the whistle on the anti-union corporations that hire lawyers and spend big $$ to intimidate their employees for trying to form a union,” Local S6 leaders wrote Wednesday.
BIW union issues statement supporting Maine Med nurses looking to unionize pressherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Letter to the editor: Anti-union ‘training’ takes MMC nurses away from their real work
A pandemic is not the time to make their jobs more difficult.
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I was disturbed to read last week that Maine Medical Center is asking all nurses on staff to attend mandatory so-called “training” about the purported disadvantages of unionization.
Attending these sessions, hosted by Reliant Labor Consultants, will require nurses to “step away from their work caring for patients, delivering vaccines and conducting coronavirus tests” (according to a leaked memo paraphrased by an Associated Press reporter).
How insulting to imply that nurses aren’t capable of doing their own research and making their own decisions about whether they wish to join a union. How unfair to make their already-heroic jobs even harder by pressuring them to take the time to attend training sessions led by a firm that openly advertises that it helps its clients “avoid the many significant problems that a