Bargaining News
|January 29, 2025
Language interpreters, supporters converge on MaineHealth’s corporate offices, demand management address recruitment and retention issues to ensure continuity of their critical services

A delegation of language interpreters at MaineHealth and supporters converged on the corporate offices of MaineHealth on Wednesday, January 29, to demand a fair contract. The United MaineHealth Interpreters have been negotiating with management for their first contract for over 16 months.
“Interpreters play a fundamental role in our healthcare system. Our presence is mandated, and rightly so, as we are imperative for effective communication between patients and providers, and the avoidance of costly adverse outcomes,” the interpreters read in a group statement they delivered at the MaineHealth corporate offices, where they were told that no one from MaineHealth management was available to speak with them. “The interpreter wages at MaineHealth, currently the lowest in Portland, reflect a troubling trend of undervaluing essential professions. This contributes to high turnover rates, and ultimately compromise this patient care, and provider job satisfaction.”
Continuing, the interpreters said in their statement, “By failing to come to the bargaining table with a reasonable wage and scheduling proposal, MaineHealth is sending a clear message that it prioritizes profit over people and is risking the trust of the community it serves. If MaineHealth truly values excellence, respect, and patient-centered care, it must invest in their staff interpreters and compensate us fairly for our vital contribution to the healthcare system. We are United MaineHealth Interpreters, and we deserve a fair contract now!”
The interpreters in 2023 voted to form their union, the United MaineHealth Interpreters, as part of the Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union.
While the interpreters’ bargaining team says it has made significant progress in the negotiations, they also said their employer, MaineHealth, has not yet put forth a wage proposal satisfactory to them. The interpreters have taken public action in previous months, including a picket in December to which over 50 community members and labor advocates joined. The Portland City Council and the nurses’ union at Maine Medical Center wrote letters in support of the interpreters and their demands for a fair contract.
“As nurses at Maine Med, we see first-hand the critical importance of our in-person interpreters. They are highly skilled professionals who support our patients that do not speak English as a first language. As such, in-person interpreters are the literal voices of these patients, and simultaneously the voices of the patients’ doctors, therapists, and of course, their nurses,” states the letter signed by 100 registered nurses at Maine Medical Center. “Just like the nurses, in-person interpreters are there for patients in happy times, like the birth of a child; and in difficult times, like when they must deliver a diagnosis of a terminal disease to a patient and their family. And so, in-person interpreters deserve the dignity and security of a generous union contract.”
The delegation of interpreters and supporters today shared the letters from the nurses’ union and the Portland City Council with MaineHealth management.
The interpreters’ contract negotiations with MaineHealth have proven difficult. In December 2023, MaineHealth management announced it would deny the interpreters the standard merit-pay increase awarded to other MaineHealth employees. The interpreters subsequently filed a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charge on March 7, 2024, arguing that “employees are eligible for the (merit-pay) program if hired before December 31 and if they have successfully completed their six-month review.”
In September 2024, MaineHealth agreed to a settlement and reinstated the interpreters’ merit pay retroactively to Jan. 7, 2024. The settlement stipulated that if interpreters had no contract by January 2025, they would also receive their 2025 merit increases.
Another NLRB charge by the interpreters was filed in September regarding MaineHealth’s retaliatory treatment of an interpreter who has been active in the formation of the bargaining unit and negotiation of the initial collective bargaining agreement. This retaliatory treatment included reducing their call-out opportunities and reducing the current interpreters’ hours by seeking to hire another interpreter. The alleged mistreatment has continued and the NLRB charge remains pending.
The interpreters said several critical issues remain on the bargaining table.
The interpreters at MaineHealth are essential for non-English-speaking patients and are instrumental in providing healthcare equity to those who utilize MaineHealth services. The interpreters translate and interpret vital information and also serve as cultural brokers for patients navigating the healthcare system.