Updated 9:51 p.m.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized administrators of the University of Vermont Medical Center and called on them to meet face-to-face with hospital nurses during a press conference at his Burlington office on Friday.
More than 1,000 nurses are prepared to strike on July 12 and 13 amid contentious contract negotiations. Nurses are calling for salary parity with the nurses at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, N.Y., which is a member of the UVM Health Network. The union says the hospital is dangerously understaffed because low salaries create long-term vacancies and high turnover rates.
“Like so many other things, this contract negotiation is about priorities,” said Sanders. “I find it really hard to believe that the hospital has enough money to pay nearly $11 million to 15 administrators, including more than $2 million to the CEO, but apparently doesn’t have enough money to pay their nurses the same wages as nurses earn just across the lake in Plattsburgh, where the cost of living is, in fact, lower.”
A bargaining session between the union and the administration was set for 5 p.m. on Friday, but union leaders said hospital representatives will not sit in the same room as them and instead plan to rely on a federal mediator to relay information between the two sides. Prior to Friday, hospital representatives met with the union’s bargaining team directly, according to the union.
Sanders said nurses are the backbone of any hospital, but that they cannot provide the quality of care patients need and deserve when they are stretched too thin by hospital vacancies. He criticized the hospital for planning to spend money to hire replacement workers during the strike rather than agreeing to pay permanent nurses a competitive wage.
If the medical center does not pay nurses enough to live in dignity and raise families, Vermont will lose them to other states, said Sanders.
“I find it even harder to believe the medical center when it says it has to pay these inflated administrators’ salaries to attract the best and the brightest people to run the hospital,” said Sanders. “How about paying competitive wages to attract the best and the brightest nurses who actually care for the patients?”
Sanders also criticized the hospital for paying nurse’s assistants less than $15 an hour. The nurses’ union has demanded a $15-an-hour minimum wage for all hospital staff.
This is not the first time Sanders has criticized the medical center. In 1987, when he was mayor of Burlington, Sanders served the tax-exempt hospital a tax bill. The hospital sued the city and won, but ultimately agreed to payments in lieu of taxes that continue today.
Hospital spokesman Michael Carrese previously told Seven Days that wages for other hospital staff are not part of the contract negotiations with the nurses. He said the hospital’s minimum hourly wage is currently $11.79, but it will be $15 by 2020. The hospital must be careful when it raises wages because it is such a large employer, and a shift in wages would pressure other businesses to do the same, according to Carrese.
Chief operating officer Eileen Whalen said in a statement Friday afternoon that the hospital is “100 percent focused” on the bargaining session and requested respect for the federal mediation process. Hospital officials remain hopeful that a resolution will be reached before the strike, according to the statement.
The nurses are less optimistic. Deb Snell, union vice president, said the union has rented an office on Colchester Avenue across from the medical center to use as headquarters during the strike.
Sanders was not the only politician speaking out on behalf of the nurses. State Rep. Johannah “Joey” Donovan (D-Burlington) and Sen. Philip Baruth (D/P- Chittenden) attended a press conference Monday during which the nurses announced they had served the hospital a strike notice. Donovan announced that 43 members of the Vermont legislature had signed a letter to hospital CEO Dr. John Brumsted expressing concern about a potential strike and chronic understaffing at the hospital.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful James Ehlers also sent the hospital a letter in support of the nurses, calling for “a fair contract resolution.” On Monday, VTDigger.org reported that Ehlers had criticized labor unions on Twitter several years ago.
Doctors have also joined the chorus of voices in support of the union. Ninety physicians and other health care providers signed a letter calling on the hospital to increase compensation for nurses.
Dr. Prema Menon, a pulmonary and critical care physician and letter signee, told Seven Days that short staffing makes her outpatient clinic feel as if there is a strike going on every day. It is not unheard of for the clinic to go without nurses for two days, said Menon. The clinic currently has one nurse for 20 providers, and has had seven different nurses fill that role since 2015, she said. The staffing makes it difficult to respond to patients who call in with concerns, she said.
Menon said a strike would be devastating for her inpatient clinic, where patients are admitted overnight, since understanding how a hospital’s system works is as important to safe care as nursing skill.
But understaffing has already made patient care difficult too, Menon said. Charge nurses in the Intensive Care Unit, who are supposed to take the lead in case of an emergency, have been given bedside duties because of short staffing. This means if an emergency occurs they have to leave a bedside to help, she said.
In an email Friday evening, Carrese said the hospital has hired more than 754 nurses and support staff since October 2016. The hospital’s administrators understand that paying competitive wages is key to attracting and retaining employees, Carrese said, and believe they have put an offer on the table that is fair and competitive.
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It looks like Bernie and his wife are doing just fine financially ,both for questionable job performances and
all he has to do is look himself in the mirror to see who is responsible for the Trump Nightmare the country
and the world is experiencing.A.D.D is alive ,well and thriving in the usa .
Paitents Before Profits – Same twist-and-contort argument given by teachers – “if you are not for us only paying 25% of our families health insurance and only 33% of our own retirements, and give us annual COLA adjustments (regardless of what actual COLA is), then you are against children’s education” – no…just against the many funding the few who wish to have better benefits than the many via public and non-profit union tactics to maximize member take home pay and $. If one cared about patients, then they would be advocating for ways to reduce what consumers must pay for health insurance and hospital costs overall.
I have to grimace every time I see a yard sign “Patients Before Profits!” Aren’t these nurses after More Money? Seems lame argument to claim the hospital is after money when the nurses want more too.
Mr. Hoffer, if you research Cost of Living in Burlington VT, vs say Boston, you will see Burlington is about a 30% cheaper place to live (https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/…). The nurses, using the figures you are providding, are currently paid about 32% less than a similar Boston nurse, Being paid $31/hr in Burlington is worth over $42 in Boston. That $31 is significantly more if comparing NYC. So, to make a Burlington nurse being paid an equal wage in Boston, they are due about a $1.50/hr raise across the board. The largest single cost of health care, and health insurance, is paying for salaries and benefits, from maintientce person, nurses and up to orthopods and specialists and department CEO’s making $500k – $1m+.
Bernie is trashing the CEO and the rest of the administration of the hospital for all their money they are making. Now let’s check the list on you..shall we… Bernie Sanders lived off his first wife for a long time, then she left him. then he lived off friends. Drew his 1st paycheck at age 40 when he became mayor of Burlington (facts from VtDigger). Has 4 homes and a Condo in DC and you know that condo wasn’t cheap. He and 50 family members and friends went to Rome to see the Pope for 5 mins. Who’s dime do you think paid for that vacation, donators who else ( story from 7 days or Vtdigger). Ran around the country while campaigning, the same thing Dean did while he was Gov. both forgot Vermont and their constituents. Bernie was -paid off to leave the race, why else would he leave? He has millions, not just 1 million but millionS. Bernie just wants the spotlight on him. He doesn’t care about the nurses. Just like he claims he’s for the poor and seniors.. He hasn’t helped them. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He just wants the media to plaster his face all over… The nurses should be paid well they are the ones who take care of the patients.
“Mostly nurses posting here… Who else would support their VERY GREEDY protests for a 24% raise?
Greedy? Here are some facts. From 1997 to 2015 (latest available), the inflation-adjusted median wage for registered nurses grew by 17%. During that same period, the CEO’s salary increased 625%. Yes. That’s not a typo – six hundred and twenty-five percent (and that doesn’t include the $210,000 in benefits for 2015).
In 2015, the median hourly wage for registered nurses in Vermont was $31.68. In Boston and NYC it was $42.21 and $42.45 respectively.
“You are so negative about everything!”
@ Mr. “GRIPE”:
Can anyone possibly be so utterly lacking in self awareness? Look at your post on this thread at 4:04 pm. It is a hyper-negative complaint. All your posts, every single one, is a negative complaint about anyone who you think has any money (which apparently is anyone other than you).
Mostly nurses posting here. Who else would support their VERY GREEDY protests for a 24% raise? 24 % !!!!!
Nurses are trolling all the sites to make it seem like there is overwhelming support for their money grab!!! 24 % ????? I don’t think so!!!
Peter Morgan, Hiring more nurses would help, but it is probably hard to recruit nurses when they learn the wages. Traveling nurses come because they get paid more. This is not the only problem here either. I believe they want their support staff to be better paid as well. When you pay the support staff a starting wage of 11.79 ( $12 if you’re lucky) or pay the new nurses below average wages then do you think people will work hard and stick around after being trained for the job? I can tell you from experience that you get what you pay for. For example pay someone $12/hr and they will be unhappy, barely able to pay bills and will do poor quality work. People need to be compensated for the work they do or they won’t do it. I find that if the employees of a business are happy then they will work hard and do a quality job. I believe this makes for a good business.
//hospital representatives will not sit in the same room as them and instead plan to rely on a federal mediator to relay information between the two sides.//
Cowards. Brumstead and his fellow executives make me sick.