For months, registered nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent and Houlton Regional Hospital have been working without a contract. These frontline healthcare professionals are demanding what any community should want for its caregivers: safe staffing, fair pay, and the resources to deliver quality care to patients.

Nurses are not asking for luxuries—they’re asking for the basic tools to keep patients safe and to prevent further erosion of rural healthcare. Instead, hospital executives have delayed progress at the bargaining table while expanding services and consolidating power. These same executives were recently cited by the Maine Department of Labor for serious labor violations, including misclassifying nurses as subcontractors and failing to pay overtime and wages on time.

When nurses say they’re ready to strike, it’s not because they want to abandon patients—it’s because hospital leadership has abandoned them.

At both hospitals, labor and delivery units have been shut down. More nurses are leaving than being recruited. And the ones who stay are expected to do more with less—less pay, less support, and less security. These conditions hurt not only the nurses, but also every patient and family relying on rural healthcare in Aroostook County.

Now is the time for Northern Maine Medical Center and Houlton Regional Hospital to do what’s right. These nurses deserve a contract that reflects their value, protects patient safety, and helps recruit and retain the skilled caregivers this region desperately needs.

We, the undersigned, stand with the registered nurses of Fort Kent and Houlton. We call on CEO Jeff Zewe and the Boards of Trustees at both hospitals to settle a fair contract without further delay. Respect your nurses. Protect your patients. Deliver the care Northern Maine deserves.