On the picket line Nurses organize National Nurses United reported the nurses at Maine Medical Center successfully voted to unionize. The 2,000 nurses will be represented by Maine State Nurses Association (MSNU) and NNU. Maine Medical Center is the largest health care facility in the state. Meanwhile, St. Vincent nurses in Worcester, Mass., are still on the picket line. The nurses’ strike began March 8 and is presently the longest strike in the country. The top demand of the nurses is safer staffing. The current staffing ratio at St. Vincent is often 1 nurse to 5 patients or (1-5). The patient load is above the NNU recommended staffing ratio and would be deemed unsafe by current best practice standards. For example, a nurse should only be caring for one critical care patient (1-1), while a nurse can be assigned multiple patients who are less acutely ill.