Residents Settle Contract with North General; CIR Welcomes NY Downtown Members

Residents Settle Contract with North General

Perseverance paid off for the 51 CIR members at North General Hospital in Harlem. After a 16-month standoff, the residents in March reached a settlement with management that includes a one-time salary increase of $1,500. The contract reopens in April 2010.

North General residents are also relieved that they are once again enrolled in CIR’s benefits program. The hospital had withdrawn from the plan in 2006 and enrolled residents in an inferior plan that cost the hospital $60,000 — nearly double the cost of the CIR-administered plan. It wasn’t until CIR pointed out the cost differential that the administration agreed to return to the Voluntary Housestaff Benefits Plan.

CIR Welcomes New Members from New York Downtown

CIR grew by 60-plus residents with the recent addition of the New York Downtown Hospital House Staff Association.The residents opted to affiliate their independent housestaff union with CIR in order to have a stronger voice in their contract negotiations. CIR overwhelmingly won the affiliation vote on April 14, 2009 overwhelmingly.

By joining CIR, the Internal Medicine and Ob/Gyn residents are hoping to secure increased salaries, protect their subsidized housing, and negotiate a better meal plan. Currently, residents’ salaries are below the city average, and they do not have access to food while on call.