BAR HARBOR, Maine - Registered nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital have voted to authorize their union to call a strike.
Vanessa Sylvester, of the Maine State Nurses Association, says negotiations stalled over medical technology issues, management demands for what the union is calling "significant and arbitrary" cuts in pay rates for some nurses, and other issues.
Sylvester says the next step is federal mediation. "And it is our hope that through the federal mediator the hospital will come back to the bargaining table and work toward a resolution of this contract."
The vote yesterday came after a year of contract negotiations. If the nurses' negotiating team does decide to strike, federal law requires the union file a 10-day notice before setting a strike date.