FitnessStaff at UVM Health Network Plattsburgh Hospital Signed a Contract Leave a Comment Clinical staff at UVM Health Network’s second-largest hospital agreed this week to sign a new two-year contract. On the other side of the lake, at UVM Medical Center, tensions persisted as employees and management struggled to sign new contracts. Employees at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in upstate New York have been working without a contract for the past two years, said Kristi Barnes, a spokeswoman for the New York State Nurses Association, which represents Nurses and support staff at Plattsburgh Hospital. . The new contract includes a 6% salary increase this year and next. It also allows employees to keep their existing health insurance and gives members more involvement in the hospital’s ongoing staffing crisis. “(W)e hopes this new contract will help us turn the page,” registered nurse Kenny Millington said in a statement Thursday. “Our communities deserve safe staffing and essential health care, and this new contract helps cement CVPH’s commitment to its health care professionals and patients.” Michelle LeBeau, president of Vale Champlain Hospital, said in a statement Thursday that the approved contract was a “big step forward.” The contract “provides a respite for all of us to return to our core beliefs and a work environment that is supportive, kind and caring,” said LeBeau, who is also president of Alice Hyde Medical Center, UVM Health Network in Malone, New York. Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital is the largest employer in upstate New York and has been part of the UVM Health Network since 2013. With more than 300 licensed beds, it is the health network’s largest hospital outside of Vermont. Plattsburgh Hospital is just a ferry ride from UVM Medical Center in Burlington, and the two hospitals share clinical staff. The Champlain Valley contract was approved just days after nurses and support staff at UVM Medical Center accused management of “playing Russian roulette with community care and staff safety.” Members of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, whose local union chapter represents 2,600 UVM Medical Center employees, have expressed serious staffing concerns in the past.In February last year, management Approve an immediate raise For most nurses union members ahead of contract negotiations this spring. But chapter president Deb Snell said management had promised additional financial incentives back in February, but later reversed course due to budget shortfalls. The hospital expects to have a shortfall of $44 million this fiscal year. Last month, state regulators allowed the network to increase the cost of its services by more than $14 million this year, but the hospital network said that would not be enough to cover the deficit. “They (UVM Medical Center management) have been saying, ‘Oh, well, no, we don’t have the money,'” Snell said Thursday. “We were like, um, yeah, you know. You just picked a different priority than we thought it should be.” Snell said the pay rise wasn’t enough to keep nurses from leaving the UVM Health Network. At the same time, hospitals are spending more on expensive temporary staff, she said. “We’re losing employees,” Snell added. “We still have more than 300 vacancies for nurses.” UVM Network spokeswoman Anne McGinn reiterated in a statement Thursday that management has given most union members pay increases. She added: “We are proud to have reached an agreement within 18 months for a 20 per cent increase in base wages, 10 per cent of which will come into effect in February.” With the federation’s current contract due to expire on July 9, Snell said the two sides have plenty of time to reach an agreement. UVM Health Network’s unions aren’t the only ones demanding higher wages and better conditions. Workers across the country are fighting for better conditions amid the pandemic’s labor shortages and rising inflation. Don’t miss anything. Sign up here to get VTDigger’s weekly email on Vermont hospitals, healthcare trends, insurance, and state healthcare policies. Did you know that VTDigger is a non-profit organization? Member donations make our journalism possible. If you value what we do, please contribute and help make this important resource accessible to all. 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