Following nearly two years of protest rallies, marches, and challenging negotiations, resident physicians and fellows at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx have unanimously ratified a new union contract during a vote held from March 20 to 26.
The agreement marks an important new chapter in the history of labor organizing at Montefiore, members of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU) said. It showcases the persistent efforts of some 1,200 medical residents who fought to secure fair and equitable working conditions.
Psychiatry resident Dr. Aubrey Vinh told the AmNews that turnout for the vote was really positive – union members were excited to be able to access in-person and online polls and vote. Montefiore residents organized their first union in 1976 and went public with their re-unionizing efforts in 2022, but it has taken this long for the hospital to agree on terms with representatives.
When asked about the delay in reaching an agreement between Montefiore and the union, and whether the hospital believes the new contract will benefit the medical center’s system, representatives from Montefiore did not provide any comments. By press time, Montefiore leadership had nothing to say regarding its contract agreement with CIR/SEIU.
Dr. Vinh said she was pretty satisfied with this, her first effort taking part in working on a bargaining committee and negotiating a first contract.
“I think we’ve been really pleased with the results that we’ve been able to have with our organizing and our concerted efforts to make sure we have raises and due process and stipends that are becoming more and more standard across other training programs.”
Under the new contract, CIR/SEIU members will receive an 18% salary increase, a $2,500 annual childcare allowance, a $3,000 housing stipend, improved healthcare benefits, and critical due process protections. Prior to this agreement, Montefiore’s residents worked 80+ hours a week and were the lowest paid residents throughout the five boroughs.
The new agreement does not, however, include a key point union members wanted: the creation of a patient care fund.
“One of the platforms that we had initially brought to the bargaining table was a resident- and fellow-driven ‘patient care fund’ which is inspired by other hospital systems in the Bronx,” Vinh explained. CIR/SEIU literature describes “Patient care funds [as being] used to: Purchase equipment, purchase educational materials, and cover patient safety quality improvement projects.” The patient care fund set aside has helped support medication safety conferences, research fairs, skateboard helmets for youth, pharmacy vouchers for indigent patients, the purchase of microscopes, and other as-needed equipment. “Unfortunately, that won’t be part of our current contract,” Vinh said. “But I think, you know, kind of seeing the energy that we’ve been able to mobilize around this current contract and thinking about how to continue holding Montefiore accountable and how to continue organizing for the Bronx. I think that that’s still going to be something that we set our eyes on. But yeah, it will not be part of our current contract that we’re ratifying.”