Bernie Sanders' Senate campaign, office throw weight behind nurses during strike

Elizabeth Murray | Burlington Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Bernie Sanders has harsh words for UVM Medical Center admin and defends nurses Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, held a news conference on Friday, July 7, 2018, supporting nurses and criticizing UVM Medical Center.

When last-ditch efforts by the University of Vermont Medical Center and unionized nurses to reach a contract failed this week, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told his Senate re-election campaign staff to take action.

"The Senator told us to do everything and anything we could to help the nurses and provide them with support," said Sanders' Senate campaign manager Shannon Jackson on Friday. Friday was the final day of the two-day strike.

Those working on Sanders' campaign sent out text messages to about 20,000 people living in the Burlington area to ask them to stand alongside the nurses. The names came from a list compiled of people who had signed up for the campaign's newsletter or asked to stay in touch with the campaign during previous Sanders campaigns, Jackson said.

Several hundred people have answered the call, Jackson said.

"We've been on the picket lines with them, both staff and volunteers and supporters of the campaign," Jackson said. He added, "We will continue to support them. We really believe what they are advocating for is necessary and is a minimal standard that should be received and accepted by UVMMC."

A major point of contention in the contract negotiations is wages. Talks ended on Wednesday with the hospital's offer now standing at a 13 percent increase in wages over three years, and the union's demand for 23 percent over three years. The union says that's the amount needed to be on par with peers at other hospitals.

OTHER STRIKE COVERAGE:

Many helped deliver healthy snacks to the picket sites. Several people who were delivering fruit, granola bars and water at the picket line on Colchester Avenue on Friday morning identified themselves as "Friends of Bernie Sanders 2018."

"We tried to go to all the spots where they were striking, including the South Burlington satellite offices and the Fanny Allen branch," Jackson said.

The efforts by Sanders' Senate campaign are separate from efforts made by Sanders in his official capacity as U.S. Senator from Vermont, said spokesperson Daniel McLean.

Last week, Sanders held a news conference from his Senate office in Burlington with nurses from the medical center. He called on the hospital to comply with the nurses' request for competitive wages.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sanders spoke on the phone with hospital CEO Dr. John Brumsted "in which Bernie urged Dr. Brumsted to meet the nurses’ compromise proposal and do everything possible to avoid a strike," McLean wrote in an email.

On the first day of the strike Thursday, Sanders posted a video about the strike to his official Senate Facebook page.

"I am proud to stand with our nurses in their fight for a fair contract that treats them with respect and dignity," the post with the video stated. "No hospital, not here in Vermont or anywhere in the country, can provide the quality and compassionate care its patients deserve unless it has a strong nursing workforce.

Correction: Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke on the phone with UVM Medical Center CEO John Brumsted on Tuesday, July 10. The way the conversation occurred was incorrectly stated in a previous version of the story.

Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.