Contract negotiations between Calais Regional Hospital and the Maine State Nurses Association have stalled after nearly nine months of negotiations.
The hospital proposed what it called its final and best offer last month after three sessions with a federal mediator.
Calais Regional Hospital spokeswoman Deedee Travis says the proposed contract changes employee benefits to account for the financial challenges the rural hospital is facing.
“We are trying to do a global look and a future look on what’s best for the organization so that we can continue to be here,” she says.
But Megan LaPlant, a medical lab scientist who is among several dozen employees represented by the union, says a recently issued staff memo stated that the hospital just had their best fiscal year in a decade.
“We haven’t asked for a raise. We haven’t asked for any increase in our benefits. We just wanted to maintain the status quo,” she says.
LaPlant says she hopes administrators will return to the bargaining table.
