Nurses at a honk-and-wave rally outside the hospital Credit: Sara Tabin
Updated at 6:45 pm.

No deal was reached during Friday night negotiations between the University of Vermont Medical Center and its nurses, and less than a week remains until nurses plan to strike. On Saturday, the union and hospital both released statements announcing that bargaining will continue Monday and Tuesday afternoons without a federal mediator.

The nurses’ bargaining team met with hospital officials through a federal mediator on Friday evening. The two sides worked into the night, but by 10:20 p.m. negotiations were over and no significant progress had been made, according to Sharon Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.

Hospital spokesman Michael Carrese declined to provide specifics about Friday’s talks, since the two sides agreed to keep the mediation confidential.

Carrese released a statement Saturday afternoon saying the hospital believes the nurse’s request for a 24 percent wage increase was not realistic. The statement also responded to the union’s demand for parity in salaries with nurses at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, saying CVPH’s pay plan would result in lower salaries for a third of the hospital’s nurses.

On June 13 the union announced that 1,227 of its 1,800 members had voted to empower their bargaining team to serve the hospital a notice for a two-day strike; the union did so on Monday. The nurses will strike on July 12 and 13 if no contract is agreed upon.

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Sara Tabin was a news intern at Seven Days during the summer of 2018. She was born in Burlington but later moved to Utah, where she interned at the Park Record in Park City. She is currently a senior at Yale University and a City Editor at the Yale Daily...

14 replies on “Contract Talks Yield No Breakthrough for Nurses, UVM Medical Center”

  1. You just KNOW the nurses are trolling ALL news sites to write support for the ’cause’. Nobody in their right mind would actually think, actually believe that these nurses deserve a 24% increase. 24% !!!!! NO! They don’t deserve it!

  3. I guess health care costs aren’t ridiculous enough already…

    I’m all for paying these people more once the government does something to get healthcare costs under control, but it’s already ridiculous. Jacking up the cost of these employees with a 24% raise is just going to ensure even less people can actually afford their services. Why don’t we focus on prescription drug costs first, and then work on wages?

  5. Don, Don, Don…. if I wanted to get screwed by the health care system and pay outrageous amounts of money, I would have been in favor of ObamaCare ! That program took us to the cleaners. 24% raise to already fairly compensated nurses (who do you think is going to pick up the tab? Why, SURPRISE!!! It’s US !) is a bridge too far. This is NOT going to impact in any way, the salary of Brumstead. It will come DIRECTLY out of our pocket. Try thinking. (But you are probably one of those who stands to gain that 24%).

  6. The healthcare system is broken, capitalism at its worst. Health care is a right. We need Medicare for all.

  7. Peter Morgan, I finally got it, you’re one of those unhappy republicans complaining but nothing is going to get any better with trump in office. As soon as the old geezer is gone then hopefully things will get back to normal, health care will be better, the brumsteads will be paying their fair share of taxes and by then the nurses will hopefully be getting paid the amount they are worth without having to strike. So settle down and chill out. It’s just another day to be thankful your alive and alone

  8. 24% is exaggerated. about 1/3 of the nurses already do not receive any raises/STEP increases (cost of living) and that would continue. SOME nurses would get 10% the first year (for pay parity with CVPH) and 5% the following two years. this is not a blanket 24% up front raise, and it would not include all 1800 nurses.

  9. We’re all getting screwed by a health care system dominated by special interests – pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, insurance companies and health care executives that get their salaries approved by the very same board they sit on, all lobbying our politicians, consciously or subconsciously seduced by donations from these sources, because we don’t have true campaign finance reform. Costs in health care are out of control. At least Obamacare attempted to do something about it. The status quo isn’t going to work.

  10. nobody wins with a strike. I’ve been through one at my hospital 5 years ago and we are STILL picking up the pieces and trying to repair relationships. Nurses lose and Hospital admin loses. they COULD lock the nurses out when they try to come back…or don’t you know that???!!!! It happened at my hospital and MANY others. This is a double edged sword. Good Luck!!

  11. In Mr. Morgan’s world, as soon as you join a union, seeking pay increases means you’re greedy.

  12. In Mr. Morgan’s world, the Free Market applies to CEOs and we have to pay them what they’re worth. Everyone else? Those pay raises come out of his pocket.

  13. I love the fact that Eileen Whalen makes over $850,000 a year and she says nurses get paid enough. Eileen how about letting go of some of your salary???? Wow, $850,000 a year must be nice. May I ask how many hours a week you work?

  14. I for one would like to see kids over 18 get their own insurance and be responsible for themselves, exception those still in school. This is what is wrong with our system. No one wants to take personal responsibility any more. Why is it hard for your 19 year old to go to a clinic for healthcare? We did at that age.

    Nurses are not the only ones not getting paid. I for one have not received a raise for over 7 years. the sad part, those with the money just keep sucking the lives out of those without, so they can have their man/woman caves. They care more about a walk in closet then peoples lives.

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