University of Vermont Medical Center nurses ratify contract

The nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center have ratified a contract with the hospital with 70 percent of voting nurses in support.

Just shy of 1,100 of the union’s 1,800 nurses voted in the election, which concluded Thursday night. The hospital and the nurses came to a tentative agreement Sept. 19 after more than six months of tense negotiations which included a two-day strike in July.

Molly Wallner, the nurses’ lead negotiator, said that the nurses were proud of the contract but that they were planning on pushing for “pro-patient and pro-nurse” legislation in the Legislature.

“We will always do what it takes to fight for our patients and the well-being of the community that we live and work in,” she said Friday morning.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/09/28/uvmmc-nurses-ratify-contract/