Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and a union representing its 280 support staffers have signed their first contract, avoiding a threatened walkout amid a projected $14.5 million annual budget shortfall.
The two-year agreement with Brattleboro Healthcare United workers, announced Thursday, comes a month after management at southeastern Vermont’s main health care provider successfully negotiated a separate contract with the 160-member Brattleboro Federation of Nurses.
“These agreements recognize the hard work and dedication of our employees while also reflecting the realities facing healthcare organizations across the country,” Dr. Tony Blofson, one of the hospital’s two acting co-CEOs, said in a statement.
Unions for both the nurses and support staffers had earlier voted for a potential strike “if necessary” after the hospital proposed curbs on salaries and benefits to help balance its current $130 million annual operating budget.
The hospital went on to withdraw its planned wage cap for nurses and to raise the minimum hourly pay rate for support staffers to $18 immediately and at least $19 in October, according to the unions.
“We’re excited to finally have a first contract in place and to get back to what we do best: providing excellent patient care for our community,” Kelsey Bean, a phlebotomist and member of the Brattleboro Healthcare United bargaining team, said in a statement.
The hospital and its workers began contract talks last year, only to pause in the fall when state regulators questioned the accuracy of the hospital’s current budget — a move that led to the discovery of the $14.5 million deficit and to the exits of the hospital’s chief executive and chief financial officers.
Talks resumed this year, at which time employees threatened to walk out.
In their statement, Blofson and fellow acting co-CEO Elizabeth McLarney said the hospital “remains focused on reducing its budget deficit through careful financial management, operational efficiencies, and continued efforts to strengthen patient volumes and services.”
