Earlier this month, we passed the one-year milestone since the Registered Nurses at Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) voted to form a union. After the election was certified and ground rules were established, the work of collective bargaining for a first contract began on May 8, 2025.

Both NMC and Northwestern Health United (NHU) have invested significant work into making progress. Negotiating a first contract is challenging, as every article must be created and agreed upon, word by word. In Vermont healthcare it is not unusual for first nursing contracts to take more than a year to finalize. We have reached ‘tentative agreement’ on about one third of the approximate fifty articles and have made good progress on the others on the way to the goal of reaching a reasonable agreement.

Recently, I met with two community members who wanted to share their thoughts on the importance of nurses at NMC and the need for a proper contract. They presented a petition signed by approximately 1,500 people carrying that same message. The document spoke of the nurses at NMC as “the backbone of the exceptional care we’ve come to expect at NMC” and called for “a fair agreement.” I want to let the signers know it has been received and its message has been shared with the NMC Board of Directors and the NMC leaders.

The petition spoke of the need for safe staffing, and we agree. We use evidence-based staffing models that vary based on the specialty of the care in that area of the hospital. These models consider the severity of patients’ illness, patients’ stability, workload complexity, and the volume of patients in real time. We try to align staffing and skill mixes with patient needs throughout the day. Our work on this, which is critical for both patient and nurse safety and well-being, continues to be a daily focus.

We agree with the petitioners that competitive wages are important for retention and recruitment. We recognize the need to raise the lower end of our RN pay range, as the data shows that is where we trail the market. We know we need to make appropriate, sustainable progress on pay rates, and we must balance that against our inability to mirror the pay of academic medical centers and the Green Mountain Care Board’s guidance for 0% expense increase for next year.

We also agree with the concern that workplace violence has become too common across healthcare, including here in Vermont and at NMC. We have implemented specialized training, invested in added onsite security, and adopted other measures to prevent and mitigate harm to the NMC team. We are also advocating for patients who do not need hospital care to be transitioned to proper settings where they can get the specific care they need from individuals trained to do so – a safer solution for our patients and our team. NMC has zero tolerance for violence against our nurses and the rest of our team. Our work on this must continue.

We appreciate the time, effort, and commitment shown by the nurses at NMC throughout these negotiations. Even more so, we appreciate the care and service the nurses at NMC provide our community. The topics touched on in the petition are important parts of the work. The process can be difficult at times and we are grateful for respectful dialogue leading to shared understanding and alignment. We know we can work together to establish a contract that is fair, financially responsible, and which serves our mission of exceptional care for our community. That’s the goal: reaching a reasonable agreement.