St. Barnabas Residents File Petition; LICH Residents Win Their Vote

Residents at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx and Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn are proof that in these tough economic times, it’s more important than ever for housestaff to have a voice in their hospitals.

On January 13, 2009, 50 resident physicians in white coats demanded recognition as a CIR chapter at St. Barnabas Hospital. They delivered a petition to the Human Resources office containing a full 87% of the hospital’s residents.

Housestaff at St. Barnabas decided to join a union in response to low pay, poor benefits and little regard for education as part of the hospital’s residency programs.

“We work a lot – we just work. Where’s the time to read?” asked Dr. Chidi Ogbonna, PGY 2 in podiatry.

“For a hospital in the Bronx, we’re just not getting compensated enough to where we can live comfortably, compared to our expenses,” Dr. Ogbonna added. “I think that a union would allow us to have a voice.”

Addison Chan, PGY 3 in emergency medicine, said he and his colleagues were fed up after a series of incidents that created an atmosphere of disrespect and penny-pinching. One complaint was that residents were prohibited from bringing capped bottles of water into the work area, even during overnight or extended shifts.

The hospital recently notified the housestaff that all “non-union employees” would now have to pay for their health insurance, Dr. Chan said, and that made a lot of residents see that they were at a disadvantage without a union backing them up.

St. Barnabas residents are following in the footsteps of the successful campaign at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. LICH residents had submitted a petition with the signatures of 90% of the 220 residents on October 16, 2008.

The National Labor Relations Board scheduled the election for LICH residents for December 10. The results were overwhelming. Of the 130 doctors eligible to vote, 103 voted in favor,  zero opposed, and 5 additional yes votes were challenged by hospital administration.

With the election behind them, LICH residents are looking towards next steps to preserve their financially-troubled hospital. Dr. Kyu Oh, a PGY 2 in Radiology, said. “With all of the changes in the hospital, residents need a voice in determining what is going to happen to our training programs.”