Porter Medical Center nurses sign new 3-year contract

This story by John Flowers was first published by the Addison Independent on Nov. 2, 2026.

MIDDLEBURY — Porter Medical Center nurses have agreed on a new three-year contract that grants them annual wage increases of 3.25% in each of the first two years and 3.5% in year three, as well as additional gains in such areas as shift differentials, incentive pay and bereavement leave.

The agreement, confirmed by Porter Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals and Porter administrators, caps several lengthy bargaining sessions since July. The union a few weeks ago brought in a mediator to avert a possible strike; the nurses’ previous three-year deal expired Sept. 30.

Wages emerged as the major sticking point, and the union pared back its original demands in that area to make gains in other parts of the contract. As previously reported by the Independent, the union had recently pitched a 3% base-pay bump during each of the three years of the new pact, while Porter had countered with 1.5%.

It should be noted that the base pay figure doesn’t include an additional 2% “step” pay increase accorded to experienced registered nurses. So all told, the union ask would have amounted to 5% annually for experienced nurses, while Porter’s offer would have amounted to 3.5%.

“The obvious shortcoming of this contract is the wage increase,” registered nurse Finn Yarbrough, vice president of the union, stated in a post-ratification message to nurses. “By itself, I fear it will not keep up with inflation, and there is no way to sugar-coat this truth. Since midsummer we have all fought both as hard and as strategically as we could to win a wage increase for all that would bring us into parity with our colleagues at (the UVM Medical Center in Burlington). We did not succeed in this goal, and our strategic calculus ultimately was that it would hurt nurses more to recommend a strike: leaving us with losses rather than gains.”

But Yarbrough also touted contract gains, as did labor organizer MacArthur Stine, lead field representative/organizer for the American Federation of Teachers Vermont. The Porter nurses union falls under the AFT umbrella.

Stine said the new deal in effect raises wages by 10% over the three-year contract, mandates the construction of a registered nurse career ladder with two 5% increases built in, provides paid time off to recover after staff are assaulted physically or otherwise at work, increases retirement benefits by 2%-6%, “lays the foundation for safer staffing” and “improves job security,” among other things.

Yarbrough added that the pact will create a “more powerful” Nursing Practice Council combined with Labor Management Committee “to confront front-line issues of patient care and establish enforceable staffing ratios.”

“Over the course of the bargaining process, we have won significant ground in ways that cement our power to collectively determine the future of our careers,” Yarbrough told colleagues.

The new contract covers 143 full- and part-time nurses at Addison County’s healthcare hub.

Yarbrough said around 70% of local nurses union members voted on the new deal, and of those, 80% endorsed the new agreement.

It’s a deal that also drew praise from management at Porter Medical Center and the University of Vermont Health network, of which Porter is an affiliate. Vermont’s healthcare system has been in austerity mode for the past few years, as the number of privately insured Vermonters continues to decline while those covered by federal programs like Medicaid and Medicare — which don’t cover the true costs of medical service — increase.

As previously reported by the Independent, UVM Health in September eliminated a combined 199 jobs among its affiliates, including around 20 on Porter’s Middlebury campus. Most of the local job cuts (15) were at Helen Porter Health and Rehabilitation, which lost $5 million last year. Still, Porter has proven itself as one of the most solvent UVM Health units.

“This agreement is the result of months of thoughtful work between Porter and our union partners,” said Bob Ortmyer, president of Porter Medical Center, in a statement. “Nurses care for our neighbors, friends and family members every day and are vital to Porter’s mission. This agreement recognizes their essential contributions and reinforces our commitment to them, our patients and the long-term strength of Porter as a trusted health care resource for our community.”

Disclosure: John Flowers’ son is a Porter Hospital nurse.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Porter Medical Center nurses sign new 3-year contract.