Los Angeles Contract Wins On Salary and Working Conditions
January 2007
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The LA Negotiating Team stayed into the late hours of the night to finalize an excellent contract agreement. |
CIR members in Los Angeles know a good contract when they see it – and on October 27, 2006 they overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new 3-year deal with impressive economics and working condition gains that address everything from text pagers to a lack of food on offsite rotations. “The CIR team worked extremely hard to negotiate the best contract we could get…I feel confident that this is a strong contract which allows for growth while protecting us through the changes which will occur over the next three years,” said CIR Delegate Suganya Karuppana, MD, a PGY 2 in Family Medicine at Harbor-UCLA.
The new contract, covering about 1,500 residents at LA County+USC, Harbor-UCLA and King/Drew Medical Center provides for a 4% raise back to October 1, 2006, with a cumulative three-year total salary increase of 15.5% through September 30, 2009. And the one-time $1,000 education bonus historically paid to interns on August 15 who stay in the County as PGY 2s was boosted to $2,000. CIR negotiators point to an increase in property tax revenue and a County surplus as two reasons why bargaining over economics came a little easier in 2006 than in 2003.
Still, reaching agreement was no walk in the park. The CIR team met County negotiators twelve times over two months and spent considerable time and energy on hours and working condition proposals to enhance patient care, medical education and house officer well-being. “We were able to incorporate a lot of language into our contract to improve resident safety…and to negotiate salaries which are comparable to other hospitals in Los Angeles. Both of these accomplishments allow us to continue to recruit high caliber physicians to work in underserved communities,” said CIR negotiating team member Dr. Karuppana.
A short, but by no means complete list of contract gains includes:
- Frozen meals to be made available for the midnight meal; County to reimburse up to $25 per day for any resident on rotations outside of LA County facilities if meals are not provided by the host hospital;
- $20,000 for the purchase of hand-held personal alarms for residents working in the Psychiatric Emergency Room and In-patient wards;
- Additional language to follow ACGME duty hour guidelines and the creation of a working group to study and make recommendations on resident sleep deprivation and fatigue; and
- New wellness language re: medical leave for residents seeking treatment for alcohol or chemical dependence.
The new contract also contains a side letter to address the future of residents at King/Drew Medical Center, which has been beset by financial and graduate medical education accrediting problems. CIR staff and legal resources are focused on ensuring that all affected King/Drew residents are placed in other training programs next July.