“Interpreters are also: cultural brokers, health care providers, clarifiers, translators, patient advoces,” read one sign at the Mainehealth medical interpreter picket outside Maine Medical Center in Portland on Dec. 13, 2024. (Photo via MSEA-SEIU)
Fifteen months after forming a union, medical interpreters with MaineHealth still have no contract, prompting a number of workers to picket Friday outside of Maine Medical Center in Portland to send a message to the health care system that they aren’t backing down.
The interpreters, who voted to form a union in 2023, are demanding that MaineHealth management address recruitment and retention concerns such as low pay that makes it hard to attract skilled, experienced interpreters, according to a release from the Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989, which includes the United Maine Health Interpreters.
“We, the MaineHealth Interpreters, want to be heard, understood and respected, just like our patients and providers,” said Eva Chen, a medical interpreter II for MaineHealth. Medical interpreters translate and interpret information for non-English speaking patients and serve as cultural brokers for patients as they navigate the healthcare system.
The interpreters said in the release that their bargaining team has made progress negotiating, but MaineHealth hasn’t put forth a satisfactory wage proposal yet.
Wages aren’t the only issue still on the table. The interpreters want to see incentives and additional pay for education and certification. They would also like longevity pay to retain experienced staff, the release said.
The interpreters’ union called the picket a necessary step toward reaching an agreement.
A spokesperson for MaineHealth said the organization was aware of the picket Friday.
“While there is work to do at the bargaining table, MaineHealth is confident the parties can reach a fair and responsible agreement, and the health system and union have made significant progress toward that goal since they began negotiations shortly after the union became the bargaining representative for MaineHealth Spoken Language Interpreters,” the spokesperson said.
The workers decided to organize after MaineHealth cut wages, the union said, noting that it’s challenging for interpreters to have fair, consistent schedules.
Maine Medical Center nurses wrote a letter in support of the interpreters, saying they “deserve the dignity and security of a generous union contract.” Nurses across the state have been part of their own labor fight. After organizing in 2021 after a lengthy anti-union campaign, the nurses backed an unsuccessful legislative effort to mandate nurse-to-patient ratios in certain health care settings.
“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,” the letter read.
In December 2023, MaineHealth management announced interpreters would not receive the merit pay increase given to other employees. The interpreters then filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board in March, arguing that employees hired before the end of the year were eligible for the merit pay program if they successfully completed their six-month review.
MaineHealth agreed to settle and retroactively reinstated interpreters’ merit pay. The settlement also included a requirement that interpreters would receive merit increases in 2025, if wage increases weren’t yet negotiated.
The interpreters filed another NLRB complaint in September for alleged retaliation against an employee who had helped form the bargaining unit and negotiate the initial agreement, the release said. That charge is still pending.
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