[T]he nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center have ratified a contract with the hospital with 70 percent of voting nurses in support.
Just shy of 1,100 of the union’s 1,800 nurses voted in the election, which concluded Thursday night. The hospital and the nurses came to a tentative agreement Sept. 19 after more than six months of tense negotiations which included a two-day strike in July.
Molly Wallner, the nurses’ lead negotiator, said that the nurses were proud of the contract but that they were planning on pushing for “pro-patient and pro-nurse” legislation in the Legislature.
“We will always do what it takes to fight for our patients and the well-being of the community that we live and work in,” she said Friday morning.
The nurses will be meeting with hospital leadership to discuss the logistics of increasing the ambulatory nursing pool and reworking staffing grids, two aspects of the contract.
The contract features a 16 percent wage increase over a three-year period for all nurses. Wages had been the major separating factor between the two sides, as nurses had been asking for a 20 percent increase when the hospital presented its “last, best and final” offer of 15 percent earlier this month.
The hospital said in a statement that the contract provides meaningful wage increases while allowing the hospital to remain “responsible stewards of limited health care dollars.”
“We are happy to share this long-awaited and positive news, and look forward to implementing the many changes that will result from this new contract – which will enhance patient care, provide additional support for nurses and allow for new opportunities to advance the nursing profession,” the hospital said.
The nurses will be encouraging state legislators to support legislation that will improve staffing ratios and guarantee a $15 an hour minimum wage for support staff at the hospital.
Pay increases for ambulatory nurses will be retroactive to the first full pay period in September.
Nurse Rachel Foxx said that ratification of the contract was “bittersweet” as some sections of the contract were disappointing. For example, she said the contract did not go far enough to ensure safe staffing ratios, and that the nurses felt like executives have not shown the nurses enough respect.
“They’ve talked a lot about it, they’ve talked about how much they value us, but it seems like they have been empty words,” Foxx said. “There’s no actions behind it, as seen at the bargaining table.”
Nurses have been highlighting the fact that President Eileen Whalen and CEO John Brumsted made over $3 million combined in 2016 while arguing low nurse pay was creating a retention crisis.
Despite some disappointments, Foxx said the contract takes major steps in increasing base wages and creating pay equity between inpatient and outpatient nurses.
Nurse Daniel Luttrell said he was glad about the agreement and the nurses made significant gains they didn’t expect to make.
“Just because the contract is negotiated doesn’t mean we are done fixing what’s wrong on the inside of the hospital,” he said. “And I’m welcoming any effort from management to try to repair those bonds.”
After the agreement was reached, Whalen said that hospital was also focused on improving its relationship with its nurses.
The contract establishes that charge nurses who manage floors don’t have to take assignments, which will allow them to be better at their primary job, Luttrell said. Addressing staffing grids will also improve patient care, as the contract mandates more ancillary staff to help nurses.
Wallner said that the union supports efforts by nurses at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans to unionize and supports the technical professionals at UVMMC, who will deliver their intent to bargain on Monday.
Foxx said that she would advise Northwestern Medical Center nurses to stay focused on their goals and understand that nurses from different sections of the hospital have varying needs.
“Our bargaining committee definitely had moments in time where we weren’t exactly unified, but we talked through it and we got to the point where we were unified,” she said. “And we always presented a unified front.”
