U.S. Senate candidate supports efforts
of EMMC healthcare workers to organize
March 22, 2006
Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Jean Hay Bright joined about two dozen people a press conference Wednesday outside Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor in support of union organizing activities by health care workers in that medical facility.

With a theme of "The Community Speaks Out for Workers' Rights!" the group included EMMC support staff, several union members from the area, clergy, doctors, and community organizers and activists. Hay Bright, a writer and farmer who lives in Dixmont, is a member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981, AFL-CIO. She hopes to unseat Republican Senator Olympia Snowe this fall.

Rob Brown, organizer for Food AND Medicine, was coordinator of the event. According to Brown, workers at EMMC are organizing for a respected, protected voice on the job and a seat at the decision-making table. "EMMC is a non-profit, community-owned hospital, and the community has a right to expect them to respect the rights of their workers," Brown said in prepared remarks.