BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Nurses at the UVM Medical Center announced Tuesday they will go on strike for five days starting Friday, July 12, unless union negotiators are offered an acceptable contract in the coming days.
The nurses last week voted to authorize a strike if the two sides could not agree in the two bargaining sessions that remain before their contract expires on July 9.
Nurses are asking the administration for a 15% wage increase in their first 2025 payroll period but a 40% overall pay increase over the three-year contract. They’re also making other quality-of-life demands. They’re also fighting a proposed cap on raises.
Hospital officials have said they simply can’t afford the 46% wage increase over the next four years the union is proposing, especially after the 20% increase the union received from 2020 to 2022.
In a statement Tuesday, Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals president Deb Snell accused the administration of unfair labor practices by refusing to provide transparency on financial proposals. “The hospital pays people a lot of money to crunch their numbers, and they don’t have enough respect for their nurses to show up explain why they think it’s not worth it for the hospital to recruit, retain and ensure nurses can afford to live here,” she said.
The nurses at Vermont’s largest hospital last went on strike six years ago.