Support staff at Porter Medical Center have voted to form a union, the American Federation of Teachers’ Vermont chapter announced Thursday.
Roughly 300 support staff at the Middlebury hospital — including medical assistants, technicians and nutrition workers — will join the AFT after Wednesday’s vote, the union said. The final vote tally was 204-30, it said.
Hospital administrators signaled that they would not fight the unionization effort.
“We respect the right of our employees to decide whether they want to join a union, and will work with the (union) and the National Labor Relations Board to determine next steps and ensure each person’s voice is heard,” hospital spokesperson Christopher Morris said via email.
The vote follows successful unionization efforts at two other University of Vermont Health Network hospitals, as employees seek higher wages in the face of rising prices.
In January 2023, University of Vermont Medical Center support staff voted to unionize with AFT-Vermont. Seven months later, nurses and technical staff at Central Vermont Medical Center voted to join the same union.
Nurses at Porter Medical Center have been members of AFT for roughly a decade.
“I believe in doing the right thing, and providing equitable conditions is the right thing to do,” Liz Willey, a radiologic technologist at Porter Medical Center, said in a press release. “Porter needs to be able to hire and retain quality staff, and we can create the conditions to make that happen.”
The AFT represents workers in health care and higher education, including Vermont employees at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the Community Health Centers, Planned Parenthood, the University of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges and Bennington College.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated a union member’s job title.
