[A] union representing 340 technical professionals at University of Vermont Medical Center has ratified a new contract with the hospital.
In a vote that concluded Thursday, about 92 percent of voting members OK’d the three-year deal. It includes wage increases ranging from 10 to 25 percent, but it does not include a controversial provision that would have required some union members to travel to various work sites.
The deletion of that “mandatory floating” provision was key to successful contract talks, said Chris Gonyeau, a respiratory therapist who helped lead negotiations with the hospital.
“That was huge,” Gonyeau said. “On the patient safety aspect, it was very concerning, because it was putting people an hour and a half away from their home base.”
UVM Medical Center administrators focused on the wage structure of the new deal, which they said will aid recruitment and retention amid a statewide health care staffing crunch.
“Our goal was always to bargain in good faith and to reach an agreement that was fair for our staff and one that allowed us to achieve our mission as a hospital, and I truly believe that we reached that goal,” said Chris Oliver, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services.
The new contract is the second negotiated within the last year between the state’s largest hospital and the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.
Last September, the hospital reached agreement with about 1,800 unionized nurses. That deal was the result of protracted talks that included a two-day nurses strike.
Talks with technical professionals were shorter and less acrimonious: Negotiations began in December, and a tentative deal was announced March 1 – the day the previous contract expired.
The bargaining unit includes a number of job titles including respiratory therapists, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, emergency department technicians, operating room technicians, dialysis technicians, ophthalmic technicians and health information management coders.
“It took both sides really sitting down and listening and engaging in conversation in order to hear the varied needs of this group of employees,” Oliver said.
In January, union leaders expressed concern that there had been little movement in initial discussions with hospital management. In particular, they objected to a proposal for dialysis and surgical technicians to travel to remote sites owned by the hospital.
That was left out of the final deal. Instead, the contract includes higher wages for when staffers are required to work additional hours due to unusual circumstances.
“We did get urgent pay in our contract, which we think will help with those call-outs and high acuity needs that the hospital has,” Gonyeau said.
Oliver said mandatory floating “would have been used very infrequently” to meet critical patient needs.
“We did feel that floating was important, but we listened to our staff and we heard their concerns and in the end we decided to drop that in order to reach a fair agreement,” she said. “(The staffing need) can be met in other ways. Urgent pay is one way. Voluntary floating is another way.”
Wage hikes are another important provision of the new contract. Gonyeau said that, as of next week, all members of the technical professionals’ bargaining unit will be making at least $15 per hour.
“That’s a huge win for us,” he said.
Hospital administrators said the wage increases “are based on comprehensive market analysis for each position, as well as critical factors such as recruitment and retention data.” Some technical professionals are receiving bigger salary hikes than others, Oliver said, “because they might have fallen behind in the market.”
Overall, she said, “paying our staff fairly and according to market helps us to attract and retain qualified staff.” In addition to wages, “we also worked on incentives and differentials for some hard-to-fill shifts, such as nights,” Oliver said.
The new contract also includes increased education and certification benefits.
The two sides didn’t agree on everything. Union leaders say they “will continue to fight for patient safety issues, including appropriate rest periods between shifts and to extend important benefits equitably to all tech employees.”
The union also is continuing to push for a $15 hourly wage floor for all UVM Medical Center employees – even those who aren’t covered by labor contracts. The union says there’s been a delay in reaching that milestone, but Oliver said the hospital’s “commitment has always been to raise the wage floor to $15 an hour in [fall] 2020.”
UVM Medical Center established a $13 hourly wage floor in 2018 and will reach the $14-an-hour mark by the end of this year, she said.
Clarification: A statement by Chris Oliver was clarified by UVM Medical Center to note that wage changes take place in the calendar year, not the fiscal year as originally stated.
