Vermont Business Magazine Nurses of Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals announced that their union is holding a strike authorization vote from Monday, June 17 to Sunday, June 23. After a few months of bargaining, the nurses and UVM Medical Center administration are still far apart from reaching a deal before their contract expires on July 9.
Among the issues the two sides cannot reconcile are wages, benefits and working conditions that fall short of cost of living benchmarks and contribute to constant staffing holes that are only filled by travel nurses.
“We are disappointed that the UVMMC administration refuses to listen to its nurses unless we threaten a strike,” says Deb Snell, an ICU nurse and president of VFNHP. “A strike is our worst-case scenario — our patients don’t want it and we don’t either. But if our nurses continue to be ignored on our concerns and brushed off at the bargaining table, we will do what we have to for the long term sustainability of our workforce and the health of our community, period.”
The nurses of the VFNHP led a successful strike in 2018, but record cost of living increases in Vermont, and especially Chittenden and surrounding counties, has forced many nurses to leave to travel or work for hospitals that pay competitively for the area. Many units in the hospital are staffed by around 50 percent or greater travel nurses, such as the Operating Room and the Emergency Department.
The Lown Institute Hospital Index ranks UVMMC as the worst hospital in Vermont in pay equity for workers vs. executives, and ranked 3,520 out of 3,923 nationally.
Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, AFT Vermont, AFT represents 2,100 nurses and over 900 technical professionals working at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Source: 6.17.2024. Burlington, VT — Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals
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