BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - A wage dispute at the UVM Medical Center has come to a close and a planned nurses strike has been called off.In a press release on their social media late Wednesday night, the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals called off a five-day strike that had been scheduled to start July 12.In the statement, they say they withdrew the strike notice under the conditions that the UVM Medical Center agree to a 23% wage increase over the next three years with an additional step added to the top of the step scale for every year of the contract.That is an increase from the hospital’s original offer of 20% but substantially less than the 31% increase the nurses initially asked for. The union says this is the largest increase nurses at UVMMC have seen in the 21-year history of the union and the first time steps have been added to the top of the scale since the union was formed. They say one more bargaining session is scheduled for Monday to ratify the contract.In a statement Thursday, hospital officials said they were pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on the three-year contract. Earlier this week they said they had been preparing for a strike, including paying an estimated $15 million to retain 500 traveling nurses.The nurses at Vermont’s largest hospital last went on strike six years ago for two days.