Nurses at UVM Medical Center in VT approve strike over pay raise
Nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center voted overwhelmingly last week to strike if they cannot agree on a new contract with UVM Medical Center, the nurses union president said Tuesday at a news conference outside the union’s Colchester Avenue headquarters.
“We do not take this lightly,” said Deb Snell. “Our goal is still to reach a fair contract.”
Snell said 90 percent of the union’s 1,900 nurses voted last week, and 85 percent of those 1,700 nurses – an overwhelming majority – voted to authorize a strike if necessary.
“We know what we need to keep nurses here in Vermont and to attract nurses here,” she said. “We need a hospital that really listens to us.”
Later in the afternoon, Dr. Stephen Leffler, president and chief operating officer of UVMMC, hosted a Zoom conference with reporters to provide the hospital administration’s perspective on the contract negotiations.
Leffler said that while the hospital’s goal is to offer as much as possible to win a contract, the union’s current salary demands would require an increase in private health insurance premiums of about 30% over the next three years or “significant reductions” in the benefits UVMMC can offer.
“We’re trying to get by as best we can, and we’re hearing from the Green Mountain Care Board and Vermonters that we want to keep health care costs as low as possible,” Leffler said. “We want to keep insurance premiums as low as possible and not cut services for the population we serve.”
The Green Mountain Care Board regulates key areas of Vermont’s health care system, including hospital budgets.
Union demands 40% wage increase; hospital offers 9% or 17%, depending on who you ask
The two sides are far apart on pay, with the union demanding a 40% increase over the three-year contract. Snell said the hospital is offering 9% based on the union’s calculations, although the hospital is sticking with its 17% offer after taking into account factors deducted by the union.
“They’re also offering that if we reach an agreement by Friday, they’ll automatically add another 2%, and then they’ll say, ‘Well, let’s see,'” Snell said.
The union’s bargaining team has done its research, Snell said. She said nurses in Portland, Oregon, where the cost of living is only 3% higher than Burlington, start at $47 an hour, while nurses at UVM Medical Center start at $35 an hour. Snell is on the bargaining team.
“Right now, we’re very far apart,” Snell said. “We really hope they understand. After the last strike, we told them, ‘This is not enough to bring nurses here or keep them here,’ and we were right. Nobody could have predicted COVID, but even without that, we just can’t get the nurses here that we need.”
According to Leffler, the union is actually asking for a 46% pay raise when you factor in a 2% annual raise that is part of the 24 “steps” a nurse can climb to reach the highest wage the hospital pays. Leffler said the 2% annual raise tied to the steps is money the nurses aren’t factoring in when they say they’re asking for a 40% raise over three years.
“That 2% is money we have to budget and spend,” he said. “The total amount of new funding we have available for nurses is 17%.”
Nurses approve five-day strike, say previous two-day strike was ineffective
The nurses went on a two-day strike in 2018 before agreeing to a new contract with the hospital that saw both sides give up their bargaining positions. Snell said Tuesday the nurses approved a five-day strike this time because the two-day strike in 2018 did not achieve as much as hoped.
“We feel stronger and more committed this time,” she said. “We know our worth, we know our work and we know they need us.”
Leffler said the hospital is preparing for a strike and he is confident it can provide quality care during the five days of the strike, but he “really hopes that this kind of situation does not arise.”
“We have a comprehensive plan to bring in nurses from elsewhere and reduce some services. We also have a significant number (of travelling nurses) right now who would not strike and could provide some continuity in care,” he said.
Travel nurses are hired through third-party agencies to fill gaps in a hospital’s nursing staff. They have long been a point of contention for the nurses’ union at UVMMC because travel nurses typically earn more than permanent employees.
Leffler said if a contract is not reached by July 1, the hospital will have to make a payment to the agency that provides the travel nurses to ensure they are available for a strike. A federal mediator will join the negotiations in the next few days.
“We will do our best to sign a contract before July 1 if possible so that the money goes to our nurses,” he said.
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.
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