BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Support staff and technical professionals at the UVM Medical Center picketed in front of the hospital Friday after contracts with the health network expired.<\/p>\n
After months of bargaining between UVM Health administration officials and support staff and technical professionals, union leaders said they hit a stalemate– calling Friday\u2019s picket a major escalation, not a strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have not really been meeting us in the middle on virtually anything,\u201d said Jacob Berkowitz, UVMMC Support Staff United president.<\/p>\n
In a written statement, a UVM Health spokesperson said more work on contract negotiations remains, and the UVM Medical Center is \u201ccommitted to staying at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Union leaders said their top priorities are staffing, wages and healthcare benefits. For Berkowitz, an expired contract means more bargaining power.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what we gain in not having a contract at this time, as far as pressure we can put on the hospitals, is a lot more than we\u2019re losing by not having a contract,\u201d Berkowitz said.<\/p>\n
UVMMC said it is committed to providing a wage increase for all eligible employees, despite significant financial pressures facing the health network.<\/p>\n
Last week, UVMMC submitted its fiscal year 2027 budget proposal to the Green Mountain Care Board, projecting a $43 million budget deficit. It comes as the health network aims to curb a $300 million financial gap over the next three years.<\/p>\n
Green Mountain Care Board Chair Owen Foster said UVM Health\u2019s financial troubles are part of a national trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing hospitals close across the country. We\u2019re seeing hospitals with really dire financial situations everywhere cutting services, cutting staffing across the country, and Vermont is not immune to that reality. So yeah, we\u2019re very concerned about UVM\u2019s financial situation,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n
Foster said the board is always pushing UVM Health to ensure a sufficient pipeline of staffing resources, particularly in patient-facing care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is their job– to manage their staffing to a safe and sufficient level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For now, the door is open for union members to strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody in that building wants to strike, but folks will do what they have to do,\u201d Berkowitz said.<\/p>\n
Union leaders said if a new contract isn\u2019t reached, Friday\u2019s picket won\u2019t be the last. Further bargaining sessions have not been scheduled, but UVM Health said it is working with the union and a federal moderator to return to the table.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Support staff and technical professionals at the UVM Medical Center picketed in front of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1006320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[45633,13986,3953,263,210,1141,1142,420,1083,50,383716,15742,67,132,4280,68,328503,2742,41707,47139,22171],"class_list":["post-1006319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-burlington","tag-care","tag-center","tag-employment","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-jobs","tag-medical","tag-news","tag-picket","tag-union","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-university","tag-us","tag-uvm","tag-vermont","tag-vt","tag-wcax","tag-workers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117110475773291059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1006320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}