Making Progress in New Jersey and Across the Country

Report by Dr. Michael Nagar, CIR Regional Vice President

Residents, Fellows, Colleagues…
As the debate over health insurance reform heated up, CIR was on the front line. Residents like Dr. Tony Tarchichi have spoken at town-hall meetings. Others have written letters to the editors, and spoken one-on-one with their members of Congress. We as residents have a vested interest and an individual responsibility to be at the forefront of these discussions; through CIR, residents are organizing and being heard!

In New Jersey, plans are still being drafted for the new state-funded Rowan Medical School in Camden, NJ that will be jointly run by Rowan University and Cooper University Hospital. On August 8, 2009, Dr. Avishek Kumar, CIR NJ staff and I attended an SEIU endorsement interview with candidates for office. In that interview, Gov. Corzine assured us that Rowan medical school residents at Cooper University Hospital will be covered under the Public Employment Relations Commission, which would make it possible and easy for Cooper residents to join CIR if a majority wanted to do so.

We were also pleased to hear Governor Corzine say that, “There will be no negative impact on any current residency positions (Robert Wood Johnson residents working at Cooper Hospital), I guarantee that.” His pledge to CIR was reassuring, and his support for resident unionization has been second to none.

Although CIR’s policy is not to endorse candidates, I should note that the SEIU NJ State Council, which includes over 30,000 members, did endorse Gov. Corzine for re-election.CIR Contract negotiations at UMDNJ have begun. The negotiation committee, comprised of residents at Robert Wood Johnson, University Hospital, and SOM, recently agreed upon preliminary contract proposals. The current economic environment will make these negotiations challenging; we need resident leaders to step-up and be active at the negotiating table.

In the past, we were very successful because of the many active united residents who contributed. This round will be no different! Your presence will make a huge difference in the outcome. Please contact me (mnagar@cirseiu.org), Cliff (cfreid@cirseiu.org) or Victor (vrosado@cirseiu.org) to join us at the next negotiation committee meeting.