(MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT) – Roughly 300 Support Staff and Technical Employees at Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, Vermont, have voted to form a Union with the Porter Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (PFNHP), an affiliate of the Vermont American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The Workers, including those who work in roles that include Medical Assistants, Technicians and Nutrition Workers, voted 204-to-30 to Unionize.

The Workers said that because Porter is a small rural community hospital, it’s often extremely short staffed and Workers aren’t paid as well as those at larger hospitals.

They added that they were encouraged by recent local organizing victories such as those of the University of Vermont Medical Center Support Staff, who successfully organized with the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, also a Vermont AFT affiliate, in January 2023.

Liz Willey, a Radiology Technologist, said: “The thing that I love so much about this movement is that it’s inclusive.  And it’s not about any one department.  It’s not about any one group of people.  It’s pretty much the whole hospital.  Personally, I love my job.  And the majority of the people that I’ve talked to across the hospital in varying roles and varying departments - we all love it here.  And we know that they can do better by us and make it more equitable.”

For More On This Organizing Labor News Story, Go To: Vermont’s largest health care union will almost double in size - VTDigger