BRATTLEBORO-A union representing nurses at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is threatening to strike after the 500-employee facility changed its contract offer upon projecting a $14.5 million annual budget shortfall for the current fiscal year.
The 135-member Brattleboro Federation of Nurses said the hospital had proposed wage increases totaling 11% over three years, only to reduce that figure during negotiations this week to no raises at all.
"They are asking the nurses basically to bail them out," Tracy Ouellette, a nurse and union president, said upon announcing the impasse on Jan. 22.
The union had paused contract talks last fall as the hospital - the main health care provider for about 55,000 people in southeastern Vermont - addressed state regulatory questions about its budget and the subsequent departures of its chief executive and financial officers.
The hospital's new interim leaders, appearing Jan. 21 before the state's Green Mountain Care Board, noted the need for contract mediation as they outlined their challenges.
"We are at a point where hard financial decisions must be made," Tony Blofson, one of two acting co-CEOs, said in a Jan. 22 statement. "The truth is, we cannot continue operating at status quo - it's simply not sustainable. Our shared goal is to ensure the long-term health of BMH, the jobs of all of us here, and to preserve the care our community depends on."
The union didn't announce a date for members to discuss and decide whether they will actually strike. Instead, both nurses and the hospital's new leaders said they wanted to keep negotiating a three-year contract to replace one that expired Sept. 30, 2025.
"Nurses would not be considering a strike vote if we had other real options," Ouellette said. "If experienced nurses can't afford to stay and new nurses won't come, patient care suffers and the entire community pays the price."
In its statement, the hospital noted "the critical role nurses play in delivering high-quality patient care" and "a willingness to reopen negotiations on specific economic issues [...] to reach an agreement that supports employees while ensuring long-term financial stability."
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This News item by Kevin O'Connor originally appeared in VTDigger and was republished in The Commons with permission.