Workers at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital held a well-attended rally for justice. “We started bargaining our first union contract in May,” Sarah Cheslawski told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on October 29. She has worked at the hospital for 10 years. She is the lead cat scan technologist. “We had a pretty steady schedule of bargaining sessions. Then the hospital had a leadership change and they canceled the bargaining session we had scheduled for October 8. Then they canceled the two Wednesdays since, including today.”

Karla Griswold worked at the hospital for more than 18 years, until she was fired for her support of the union, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The hospital is now appealing that ruling. A hearing date will be set after the federal government re-opens. On October 31, the Valley Post interviewed Griswold in-person in Brattleboro. “I loved my job. I was a workflow coordinator. My heart was torn deeply,” she said. “I want to go back to my job. I'm a Brattleboro native. I support a union because I want the hospital to succeed.”

About 325 workers at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital are part of the union. The workers have a web site at https://aftVermont.org. More information about their struggle is at:

https://valleypost.org/2025/06/25/some-520-workers-brattleboro-memorial-...

In the October 29 voice phone interview, Sarah Cheslawski said, “We could go on strike but we want to try a more collaborative approach first. We asked for a side meeting with the new interim, co-CEOs. One of them is on vacation until the second week of November. We want to tell them that we want to keep the hospital's doors open but we also need fair wages, safe staffing and basic union protections.”

In the October 31 in-person interview, Karla Griswold said, “We could go on strike but it's not in our immediate plan. We may have another rally that the community can come to. People can contact us at the email address on our web site. We have two more unfair labor practice charges pending at the NLRB. Two people had their schedules changed in a way that meant they had to leave their jobs. That was because of their support for the union.”

Griswold continued, “In September we had a rally outside the hospital. About 60 people were there. Management came out and told two people, 'Get back to work now,' even though they were both on lunch break.”

In the voice phone interview, Sarah Cheslawski said, “The hospital has spend about $400,000 on anti-union lawyers to fight us.” After the interview, she texted the Valley Post the following message:

“I absolutely love working at BMH. The radiology department here is so close-knit, which is why, when I started to see my coworkers leaving for better pay, it was not only upsetting emotionally, but it also added stress and extra patient load to my workday. We often have to run short staffed until we can get a traveler in place. We have to train that traveler, and then in 13 weeks when their contract is up, we may have to train another one all over again, unless they choose to extend their contract.”

Cheslawski continued, “We do not have a good 'per diem pool' for call-outs or vacations. For three summers in a row we have all worked overtime or run short in order to give people that much-needed family vacation time. We offer CT and X-ray services 24/7/365. Anytime someone calls out for an evening shift, night shift, or weekend shift, we faithfully cover the shift, even if we have already worked the day shift, in order to continue to offer radiology services to the Brattleboro area. Having to do this so often is leading to increased burnout, which then sometimes leads to call-outs on the day shift that we can't fill and just have to increase our caseload. It's a vicious cycle.”

Cheslawski said, “Luckily, we haven't had to cancel any appointments due to minimal staffing because we strive to accommodate everyone, but occasionally we do have to x-ray our orthopedic patients in the main hospital instead of the Richards building, which can be very inconvenient for patients having to walk to a different location, and may delay the orthopedic schedule. We try at all costs to avoid doing that, but sometimes we just don't have any other options for staffing. Our goal is to have honest discussions about these issues and draft a contract that will improve our working conditions, our patients' care conditions, and the hospital's financial health by decreasing traveler and overtime costs. Retention is cheaper than turnover.”