Nurses call off strike, announce tentative deal with UVM Medical Center

Updated at 1:08 p.m.

A union representing nearly 2,000 University of Vermont Medical Center nurses has called off its plan to strike after reaching a tentative deal with the hospital administration, it announced late Wednesday night.

The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals said in a press release that the hospital has agreed to a 23% salary increase for its nurses over a three-year period — the largest pay increase since the union formed 21 years ago.

Over those three years, the agreement would also add three steps to the top of the pay scale, allowing nurses to qualify for additional pay increases.

The union originally sought a 46% salary increase, while the administration offered 17% — figures that included three 2% annual raises already promised to most nurses.

Dissatisfied with the administration’s subsequent offer of a 20% increase, the union on Tuesday announced plans for a five-day strike that would have started July 12. It withdrew that strike notice Wednesday night.

In a statement Thursday, Annie Mackin, chief spokesperson for the UVM Health Network, wrote that the hospital “is very pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on wages with the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals in the new three-year contract we are negotiating for our nursing staff.”

The two sides plan to resolve the remaining pieces of the contract at a final bargaining session Monday. At that point, the full union would vote on the agreement.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Nurses call off strike, announce tentative deal with UVM Medical Center .