Change Is Coming to St. Barnabas Hospital
Legal Victory Paves Way for Residents’ Voices to Finally Be Heard
Almost a year after the resident physicians at St. Barnabas Hospital voted on whether to join CIR, their votes were unsealed and counted on June 11, 2010. With 119 voting in favor of the union and only two against, it was a resounding victory for the residents who have fought for almost two years for a union. An additional 47 ballots were not included in the vote count because of legal challenges from the hospital.
For the residents who started the organizing campaign in 2008, it was a sweet victory. Many had already started to discuss concrete improvements they could negotiate when the hospital comes to the bargaining table.
“The approval of union status will not only strengthen our ability to make improvements, but ultimately will allow us to better serve our patients and our community,” said Dr. Wanda Espinoza, a PGY3 in Emergency Medicine. “It’s a win-win for residents and also for our patients, and therefore the hospital through which we provide our services.”
The Bronx doctors originally voted to join CIR after a ruling by the Regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on May 22, 2009 gave them the right to hold a secret ballot election within 30 days. The residents participated in the NLRB-authorized election on June 18, 2009, but hospital administrators then appealed the NLRB’s decision, clinging to their argument that residents are students and not employees. The votes were impounded and could not be tallied until the NLRB ruled on whether it would hear the hospital’s appeal.
On June 3, 2010, the national NLRB in Washington DC declined to review the case, citing the precedent of 1999’s decision in the Boston Medical Center case, which established that medical residents are employees under labor law and deserving of full labor rights. “That decision, which remains the law, is directly on point,” read the NLRB decision – one of the first issued by the board under the Obama Administration. That decision paved the way for the votes to finally be counted.
Despite the hospital’s efforts to stall the process, St. Barnabas residents did not let the year-long delay stop them from addressing urgent issues in the hospital. Throughout the year, they identified problems with equipment, translation services, ancillary staffing, and security in the hospital. By bringing those issues to light within their departments and with outside regulators, they were able to win some small victories for safer working conditions and better patient care.
On April 27, 2010, residents, guards, and nurses submitted a joint complaint outlining hazardous working conditions evidenced by a spike in workplace violence. Between 2008 and 2009, the number of patient assaults on hospital employees increased by more than 300%: from 13 in 2008 to 44 in 2009.
The spike in violent incidents also got the attention of a local ABC News reporter, who interviewed residents and a former guard about the lack of security. A St. Barnabas resident speaking anonymously on camera stated, “[Residents] are working in an environment that is not safe; security is not enough.”
Now that the votes have been counted, residents are hopeful that they will have a greater voice and a stronger ability to address this and many other issues. Once they negotiate a formal labor management process, they looked forward to a process through which housestaff and management can find solutions to workplace violence and other issues.