7 ways Bernie Sanders blasted UVM Medical Center at nurses' union news conference

Dan D'Ambrosio | 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.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took direct aim at leaders of University of Vermont Medical Center on Friday, complaining hospital executives are reaping huge pay gains while nurses' pay is wholly inadequate.

Here are seven main points he made in a news conference for the nurses' union:

Vacancies

“We have a significant nursing crisis at the region’s largest hospital,” Sanders said. He noted there are 170 vacancies for nurses and other health-care professionals represented by the union. “170 vacancies at this hospital,” he repeated for emphasis.

Pay

Vermont ranks 47th in the nation in terms of nurses’ wages adjusted for the cost of living, Sanders said. “This is not a complicated topic. If the medical center doesn’t pay competitive wages for the vitally important work nurses do, we will continue to see high vacancy rates and high turnover rates.”

More: UVM nurses strike: What you need to know

Veteran nurses

The longest-serving nurses at the medical center have not had raises in quite a few years, Sanders said. Not compensating the most-experienced nurses properly has ripple effects, he said, noting, “They train the next generation of nurses.”

Traveling nurses

“The medical center is forced to employ at great expense hundreds of travel nurses for 13-week stints to help keep the hospital running,” Sanders said.

Impact on patients

The combination of open positions and low morale among nurses has a direct impact on UVM Medical Center patients, Sanders says. “They simply cannot provide the level of care the patients deserve.”

More: The numbers behind the UVM nurses' strike: How much do they make?

Administrators paid ever better, nurses are not

Sanders noted the hospital had $75 million in profits three years ago, yet seems to prioritize its executives over its workforce.

“I find it 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 nurses earn across the lake in Plattsburgh,” where the cost of living is lower, Sanders said.

If UVM Medical Center is willing to pay to attract “the best and the brightest” to manage the hospital, “well, how about paying competitive wages to attract the best and the brightest nurses to care for patients?”

Wrong people at the table

Sanders complained the nurses’ union has had to negotiate contract issues with UVM Medical Center attorneys instead of with top administrators. He indicated this shows a lack of full respect for the nurses' point of view.

What's next?

UVM Medical Center President Eileen Whalen issued a statement on Friday saying the hospital's leaders are "100 percent focused on tonight's bargaining session."

The hospital and the union were set to meet at 5 p.m. Friday.

"As we've said all along, we believe we can reach agreement if both sides stay at the table and we involve a federal mediator, an approach which has worked in the past three negotiations," Whalen said.

Nurses said on Friday, however, that the hospital would not be at the table for the negotiations, in a literal sense.

The team representing hospital management will be in a separate room from the team representing the nurses and will use the federal mediator as a courier to take messages back and forth between the two sides, said Julie MacMillan, lead negotiator for the nurses' union.

"We would prefer to have the decision-makers at the table," MacMillan said. "They have declined."

Nevertheless, Laurie Aunchman, president of the nurses' union, held out hope that a strike could be avoided. She said the union has "alternate proposals" to put forth that ask for less than the 24 percent increase in wages over three years the union has demanded so far.

"When the hospital is willing to sit down with us, we will be happy to bring those forward," Aunchman said.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.



