UVM Medical Center nurses say they will strike if no contract by July 12

The nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center announced Tuesday morning they will go on strike for five days beginning on July 12, blaming unfair labor practices and a lack of financial transparency by the hospital.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon at union headquarters on Colchester Avenue across from the hospital, Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals President Deb Snell said the decision to strike was made Monday at the bargaining table to give the hospital the required 10-day notice.

"This was not an easy decision, it was emotional, it was extremely difficult, but we know we have to do what's best for our nurses and our community," Snell said. "We know the proposals we have on the table are the ones that are going to get nurses here and keep nurses here."

Snell said Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, the nearest academic medical center comparable to UVMMC, raised the starting wage for its nurses to $39.50 per hour. She said with UVMMC's current proposal, it would take new nurses at the Burlington hospital two years to get to that wage.

"That is two years too long," Snell said. "We continue to keep falling behind, and the administration needs to understand we need to catch up now. We are done chasing after their imaginary numbers with their data that doesn't make sense. We've done the homework. We know what we need and they need to listen."

Nurses want decision-makers from the hospital at the negotiating table

Dr. Stephen Leffler, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center, and Peg Gagne, the hospital's chief nursing officer and lead negotiator with the nurses' union, held their own online press conference on Tuesday about two hours after the nurses' press conference. Leffler and Gagne said the hospital had made a proposal that would have gotten starting nurses at UVMMC to just over $39 per hour.

"They refused our offer," Leffler said. "I'm very confident that we negotiated in good faith and came up with a proposal that makes us fair and competitive."

The nurses voted last month to authorize a strike if there is no agreement on a new contract.

Snell said Tuesday the nurses are also frustrated that while their bargaining team is authorized to make decisions "on the spot," the hospital's bargaining team does not have the same authority.

"Their bargaining team has to go back and talk to executives and other people," she said. "We have decision-makers at the table. They do not."

The gap on wage proposals has closed, but not enough to make a deal

The two sides have come closer together on the numbers than they were at the nurses' last press conference on June 25, but not close enough to make a deal. UVMMC said its current proposal is for a 20% wage increase over the three-year contract, which is up from the previous offer of 17%, and that the nurses' current proposal is for a 31% increase over three years.

Snell said Tuesday the hospital is actually offering a 14% increase over three years, and the union is asking for 25-29%, a range created by a new approach to how raises would be implemented. The two sides have never agreed on numbers, because UVMMC includes automatic 2% raises that are part of the "step" system nurses climb as they gain experience, and the union does not include the step increases in how it defines the hospital's offer.

Previously, the nurses' union was asking for a 40% increase over three years, which the hospital defined as a 46% increase because it included the step raises.

"We have made significant movement (in our wage request) in the last week, where the hospital has come up one or two percent total," Snell said Tuesday.

Leffler maintained the hospital's offer is "competitive, serious, and designed to continue the progress we’ve been making on recruitment and retention" and that Vermonters cannot afford the contract the nurses are asking for.

“We know that the cost of living in Vermont, especially the Chittenden County area, is high,” Leffler said in a statement. “But our patients are shouldering that burden too, and Vermonters cannot afford a more than $100 million contract, as proposed by the nurses’ union. The hospital’s proposal balances our commitment to our nurses with the needs of our patients, community and thousands of other employees.”

Nurses' union says the hospital can't afford not to pay what they're asking

Snell rejected the claim that UVMMC can't afford to pay its nurses what they're asking for.

"We understand the hospital is holding a press conference at 2 p.m.," Snell said Tuesday. "Any member of the bargaining team can tell you what the hospital is going to say, that they can't afford this. They can't afford not to. We are losing staff at an alarming rate."

The nurses and hospital negotiators will still attend two more scheduled bargaining sessions, on July 3 and July 8, before the contract expires on July 9, to try to reach a deal and avoid the planned strike. The nurses said they scheduled two last-minute bargaining sessions, including a 10-hour session last Friday and a session Monday night, "in the hopes to avoid a strike."

"Our patients and community need to know, we did everything in our power to avoid going out on strike," Snell said. "But the hospital has left us no choice − we either leave now temporarily, or watch even more of our best nurses leave to travel or create roots with an institution that respects them more."

How the hospital is preparing for a strike

UVM Medical Center said the hospital "has put in motion plans to bring in professional external staff, and if needed, reschedule certain elective procedures. Patients will be contacted by their provider if they will be impacted."

The Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and other "vital services" will remain operational during the strike, the hospital said..

"While I do still have sincere hope that we can collaborate to reach an agreement and avert a strike – and I share the sentiment with many of our staff and community members that another strike would be painful and difficult for all of us – we have to be ready the moment a strike begins to care for our patients and community, and we will be,” Leffler said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Leffler explained the hospital was already spending money booking hotels for up to 500 travel nurses it will need to fill in for striking UVMMC nurses. He estimated the five-day strike would cost the hospital $10-15 million.

"We don't believe a strike is the answer to this problem," Leffler said. "It will impact patients and cause huge emotional stress on the hospital. We strongly prefer to negotiate. That's why we'll negotiate tomorrow night and next Monday to get to a contract."

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.