University of Vermont nurses, technicians and medical center reach pay deal
BURLINGTON, Vermont (AP) — Nurses and technical employees and the University of Vermont Medical Center have reached an agreement to increase salaries, the hospital announced Monday.
The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals voted to accept a salary proposal before the nurses’ contract expires this summer, the hospital said.
The agreement provides for a 10% increase in nurses’ salaries with immediate effect. Additional increases of 5% will follow in October this year and in October 2023. The agreement also includes stabilization bonuses of $5,000 for all technical employees, excluding imaging technicians.
The rest of the contract will be negotiated this summer.
Both parties said it was unusual to negotiate different parts of a contract separately. But the hospital and the nurses have expressed a desire to accelerate the timeline for increasing nurses’ pay in light of their frontline work during the pandemic and their loyalty to their patients and community.
The salary increase is also intended to boost recruitment and retention efforts within the hospital by increasing the salary.
“We appreciate that UVMMC has recognized the need to increase our base salaries to keep our staff here at the medical center and we really hope this inspires nurses who may have been considering leaving to decide to stay,” said union president Deb Snell.
“I am happy that we were able to reach an agreement and that we can obtain salary increases for our nursing and technical employees now, as they continue to work incredibly hard to take care of our community during this difficult time,” said UVM President, Dr. Stephen. Leffler said in a statement.