The University of Vermont Medical Center announced late Wednesday that it had reached a tentative agreement with its nurses’ union after months of negotiations and a highly publicized strike.
The two sides agreed to a 16 percent average base salary increase over the next three years, a slight increase over the 15 percent the hospital announced last week was its “last, best and final offer.”
The nurses had asked for a 20 percent increase last week.
“We believe this agreement provides meaningful wage increases and allows us to maintain our commitment to all employees and be responsible stewards of limited health care dollars,” the hospital said in a statement.
The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals agreed to take the matter to a vote of its membership in coming days.
Molly Wallner, the union’s lead negotiator, said the nurses were feeling a “roller coaster of emotions” after over seven hours of negotiations on Wednesday.
“We feel really proud, but this contract doesn’t encompass everything we were trying to achieve, so our work isn’t over in the long run,” she said.
Wallner said the union was planning on collaborating with lawmakers to address certain patient care issues not fully addressed in the contract, including staffing ratios.
The deal included retroactive pay increases to the first full pay period in September for ambulatory nurses.
The union also agreed to eliminate proposed increases to certain shift differentials, the hospital said.
The union and the hospital had been negotiating since March. The nurses went on a 48-hour strike starting on July 12 after their contract ran out on July 9.
The union represents approximately 1,800 licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and nurse practitioners who work at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
The nurses have argued that low pay has led to staffing shortages, and have called attention to the fact that the hospital’s top executives, President Eileen Whalen and CEO John Brumsted, together made over $3 million in 2016.