Negotiations between the nurses union and the UVM Medical Center are heating up

Negotiations between the nurses union and the UVM Medical Center are heating up ahead of a new bargaining period. Hundreds of nurses walked off the job back in 2018 to fight for better wages. On Wednesday, they rallied again with a similar message in hopes of avoiding another strike. Calls to action echoed off UVM Medical Center Wednesday, as a rally brought together two of the medical center’s major unions and three from the University of Vermont. Eisha Lichtenstein is one of thousands of union members demanding fair contracts. Lichtenstein works in ER and says nurses are beaten down by poor work-life balance and low wages, despite a 20% raise in their last contract. “Every single member of the administration who’s representing the hospital bargaining across from us at the table can afford to buy a home in our community. Most of the people that I work with — who are not travelers — cannot,” she said. Vermont needs thousands more nurses to fill current staffing shortages. Staff say the hospital’s solution is investing in traveling nurses over permanent staff and that the rotating door of new faces makes it hard to work as a team.