After one year of contract negotiations, the unionized caregivers at Calais Regional Hospital (CRH) have authorized a strike for the first time in that hospital’s history, Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) announced on Friday.

No strike date has been set at this time, but should the bargaining team decide to move forward with a strike, nurses and the other caregivers will provide hospital management ten days’ advance notice so that CRH can make appropriate preparations.