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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“You seem to argue that the cost of living for a UVMMC nurse is the same as for a Boston nurse.”
Never said that. And it’s not “my” data. It’s from the BEA.
I really don’t care that you refuse to accept official data. Gotta go to work.
@ Hoffer:
No, it is you who ignores the core issue here. You seem to argue that the cost of living for a UVMMC nurse is the same as for a Boston nurse. We all know that that’s an absurd proposition, Boston being one of the most expensive areas of the country. Yet you continue to argue for it, citing statistics for “Boston MSA” v. “Burlington-S.Burlington MSA.” Does your data actually show that the cost of living for a Boston nurse v. a UVMMC nurse is the same? You refuse to answer, bc you know it’s not.
@ Philo:
Any housing within commuting distance of Boston is way more expensive than housing within commuting distance of Burlington.
Do all Boston nurses live in Boston or is it possible they live in some of the less expensive suburbs and commute in as well. I don’t get you point here.
“You sidestepped the question in your typically high handed way by just demanding that the BEA data must be accepted.”
Nice try. You conveniently ignored the core issue. Which data set is reliable.
I have one of the most widely accepted sources in the world.
You got nothing…
Except . . .
I asked whether the the comparison you cite (Boston MSA v. Burlington-So.Burlington MSA) is relevant to the question at hand, i.e., does it actually show that the cost of living for a nurse working at a hospital in Boston is only 6% higher than that of a statistically average nurse working at UVMMC, where the UVMMC nurse may be living in Ferrisburgh, South Hero, Cambridge, Monkton, or Fairfield, where his or her housing costs are possibly half, or less, of the Boston nurse.
You sidestepped the question in your typically high handed way by just demanding that the BEA data must be accepted.
@knowyourassumptions the reason there is a shortage of nurses it’s because they are underpaid and go elsewhere-hard to attract any new/additional nurses if salaries aren’t in align with other places. I beg you to name a single nurse at the bedside that is ‘OVERPAID’ ! Do you want nurses caring for you that have so many patients they don’t have time to do a proper assessment and take care of you because of their patient load? I doubt it
“We can pick and choose our studies.”
That’s true. Many people “pick and choose” studies. I don’t. I prefer official data that is objective, transparent and provided by professionals with decades of experience rather than an informal website.
“Who is the Bureau of Economic Analysis and what is their methodology?”
The fact that you don’t know means 1) that you didn’t bother to look it up yourself and 2) makes it curious that you would challenge BEA data. The BEA is an arm of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and the source for America’s economic accounts and official statistics such as GDP, personal income, etc. Not surprisingly, “bestplaces” lists BEA as a source. Wouldn’t you rather go the source?
What you did is not unusual or necessarily bad (i.e., refer to your personal experience or observations), but anecdotes cannot replace data produced with rigorous methodology.
https://www.bea.gov/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Ec…
Here is a paper on the subject from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve.
https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/re…
Last week Seven Days article on non profit compensation, per board chair, CEO of UVM Medical Center, Dr. Brumstead, could be payed at 65% of the national median for compensation with bonuses, which it looks like he hit at $2.1 million, and that the remainder of his 15+ executive team is payed at the same standard, based on “market analysis”, and that the nurses are being paid their wage based on “market analysis”. SENATOR SANDERS, SEVEN DAYS, PLEASE ASK UVM ABOUT WHAT THAT “MARKET ANALYSIS” IS. Really, UVM back up that claim to restore public trust. I’ve heard same thing happening to MD’S at UVM, paying them at a low rate compared to national average, so they can’t recruit or retain MD’s, that’s why you can’t get an appointment with anyone and your doctor always changes. All this leads to bad care for patients. Priorities.
“the Boston MSA as somewhat more expensive than the Burlington-S. Burlington MSA,”
We can pick and choose our studies. Who is the Bureau of Economic Analysis and what is their methodology? Does it include the cost of housing? What is the “Burlington-S. Burlington MSA”?
Having lived for long periods of time in both greater Boston and greater Burlington, and being in both places regularly, I just don’t believe that the cost of living for a nurse in greater Boston is only “somewhat” higher than for a nurse who works at UVMMC. The cost of housing is probably the single biggest factor in the cost of living. Nurses in Burlington probably live not just in Burlington or South Burlington, or even just in Chittenden County, but also commute from Addison, Washington, Lamoille, Franklin, and Grand Isle counties, where housing is considerably less expensive than anywhere in greater Boston. So what’s the real average cost of living for a UVMMC nurse vs. a greater Boston nurse? I don’t think the Bureau of Economic Analysis tells us that, and I believe it’s got to be much less than “somewhat” lower.
Mr. Berry – I appreciate your use of data. However, websites such as “bestplaces” are not official and don’t provide detailed methodology. For example, you referenced Boston and Burlington. Does that cover the entire MSA or is it limited to the cities? It refers to the “average cost of food and groceries.” What food? Health care is “calculated using the standard daily rate for a hospital room, and the costs of a doctor’s office visit and a dental checkup.” People who are insured pay for services based on rates negotiated by their insurers, rather than rates published by hospitals and other providers. The point is not that “bestplaces” has no value, only that it leaves a number of methodological issues unanswered.
As it happens, the Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes “regional price parities.” Not surprisingly, it shows the Boston MSA as somewhat more expensive than the Burlington-S. Burlington MSA, the difference is not nearly what “bestplaces” reported (6% vs. 30%).