To the Editor:
This open letter to the community explains the position of the bargaining committee of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, the union elected to represent the 1,800+ nurses working at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC). Recently, 94% of voting nurses approved a strike, if needed, to secure the contract necessary to provide the quality care the community deserves. We have not called for a strike yet, and we remain committed to working with the management team to find solutions to UVMMC’s safety, staffing, recruitment, and retention issues, but we may be forced to exercise this option as a last resort if the management team continues to ignore the very real concerns and problems we face.
1. We do not have the nursing or support staffing levels we need to provide safe care. The UVMMC network has expanded, bringing the sickest of over 1 million patients to our hospital from upper New York and throughout Vermont because UVMMC is Vermont’s only Level 1 Trauma Center. We are happy to provide the care, but we need staffing plans that account for the increased seriousness of patients’ illnesses and injuries, the increased patient volumes, and the additional staff needed to provide excellent care.
2. Support staff wages are too low for us to recruit and retain the people we need. For example, patient support and transport staff turnover is 40%. We have been asking the hospital to commit to paying everyone who works at UVMMC at least $15.00 per hour. UVMMC is a $1.2 billion/year company, the flagship hospital of a nearly $2 billion/year health network. The hospital and network generate enough surplus to spend hundreds of millions annually on capital expenses, acquisition of businesses and property, and increasing reserves. The hospital’s net patient revenues exceeded forecast by nearly $40 million in FY17.
3. Studies and experience show a correlation between poor staffing levels and higher rates of patient infections, bedsores, medication errors, slips and falls, and worker injury.
4. UVMMC does not have the nationally competitive nursing compensation plan needed to recruit and retain adequate numbers of qualified nurses:
• Baby boomers are getting older with increasing health needs.
• The US higher education system has produced too few new nurses.
• Older nurses who delayed retirement through the great recession are leaving the workforce.
• The greatest numbers of new nurses are Millennials who, through no fault of their own, are more likely than past generations to have crushing education debt, and to lack the ability to afford a mortgage or enjoy other incentives to stay in one place and deepen their relationship to a community.
• Other hospital systems are offering incentives for nurses to join them: sign-on bonuses of up to $25,000, free college tuition for nurses and all their children, andfree apartments near hospitals so they don’t have long commutes. UVMMC is not competitive locally or nationally.
5. Vermont nursing pay ranks 47th in the nation. For example, advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are woefully behind the national median for wages, especially new APRNs, who are compensated at about the 10th percentile. APRNs are wildly overworked and APRN positions go unfilled for months or years, jeopardizing patient care.
We call on hospital executives to stop withholding relevant information, stop the unfair labor practices that intimidate or chill RNs for speaking out about pay and patient safety, stop ignoring our serious concerns about safe patient practices, recruitment and retention, and quickly agree to a contract that allows UVMMC to remain competitive, and that allows nurses and staff to provide the care that we want to give and that our community deserves!
We ask that you think about the critical moments between life and death, and ask yourself how understaffed, unsupported, overwhelmed, distracted, and tired you want your nurse to be? Please support our campaign for a fair and safe contract by voicing your support for the nurses to UVMMC network CEO [email protected], UVMMC CEO/COO [email protected], CNO [email protected] or any member of the UVMMC board. Additionally, please come to our Nurses Town Hall on Friday June 22, 6PM at Burlington High School.
As always, on your side and by your side,
VFNHP Nurse Bargaining Committee
Tristin Adie
Laurie Aunchman
Nancy Bissonette
Phillip Bowler
Dawn Bray-Riley
Alain Brunet
Maria Cochrane
Valerie Conte
Philip Corriveau
Stephanie Davies
Clare Doyle
Kelly Dunford
Marybeth Early
Tracy Fornasier
Rachel Foxx
Adam Gil
Sarah Girome
Jonathan Glaude
Caitlin Gray
Kate Janson
Julie Kent
Jessica Kilpatrick
Kim Kuhlmeier
Amy Lang
Samira Lawson
Stephanie Lusk
Daniel Luttrell
Julie MacMillan
Kathleen McCarthy
Andrea Messier
Alison Morrow
Leigh Nelson
Andrea Parker
Sherrie Peterson
Noah Ponzio
Angela Pratt
Cristina Price
Sierra Schultz
Tiffany Short
Karin Stafford
Caroline Tassey
Debra Toof
Kristin Viens
Molly Wallner
Anna Westervelt
Donna Zarro
Diane Zeller