Sanders Calls on UVM Medical Center Board to Meet with Nurses and Direct Hospital to Negotiate ...
Sanders Calls on UVM Medical Center Board to Meet with Nurses and Direct Hospital to Negotiate Fair Contract
Excerpt:
Monday, August 13, 2018
BURLINGTON, Vt., Aug. 13– U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on the University of Vermont Medical Center Board of Trustees Monday “to take a more active role in the contract negotiations between management and the nurses’ union.”
In a letter to Allie Stickney, the chair of the Board of Trustees, Sanders said, “The primary responsibility and obligation of any non-profit board is not to management, but to the organization, and that includes providing oversight and guidance on issues related to the organization’s workforce.”
“For most people, the nurses are the hospital,” Sanders said. “They are also our neighbors, friends and family. Vermonters want to see them paid fairly and treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Negotiations between the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals and the hospital administration resumed Monday.
“No hospital can operate effectively without a strong and highly motivated nursing workforce. Yet, UVM-MC – the largest and most important component of Vermont’s healthcare delivery system – is facing a serious nursing crisis. The hospital has a high nurse turnover rate and more than 170 vacancies, as nurses leave for higher paying jobs elsewhere,” Sanders said.
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-calls-on-uvm-medical-center-board-to-meet-with-nurses-and-direct-hospital-to-negotiate-fair-contract
