CIR Doctors Join NYSNA on the Line for the Union’s Historic Strike

March 9, 2026

It was hard to move in the sea of red hats and thick winter coats. A couple weeks into the longest nurses’ strike in NYC history, CIR physicians had officially joined their New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) colleagues on the picket line at Montefiore and Mount Sinai West.

At Montefiore Moses in the Bronx, physicians and nurses were tightly crammed between the mountains of snow and their coworkers on the freezing Monday night in January. Dr. Anita Amin took the megaphone.

“Inside and outside the hospital, nurses are not only our allies but also our teachers and mentors,” said Dr. Amin. “Medical school taught me which medication to order, but nurses taught me that true care goes beyond the meds. True care is showing up every day to advocate for our Bronx patients.”

After more than a month on the line–during one of the coldest NYC winters in memory–nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and New York Presbyterian won new contracts protecting things like staffing and their jobs, and ensuring urgent boosts in their pay.

While Montefiore physicians are on a different schedule for their contract negotiations, their CIR peers across NYC’s private sector are beginning their own negotiations this spring with corporate medical Goliaths like Mount Sinai and smaller systems like St. Barnabas and One Brooklyn Health. For their campaigns, they’re determined to follow in the footsteps of NYC’s nurses, as well as their peers in the city’s public hospital system, who won a historic new contract in 2024 after a tough fight.

Immigrants and physicians of color are the backbone of NYC’s private sector hospitals, and this year, CIR bargaining teams are demanding critical immigrant protections along with living wages and quality benefits. Like NYSNA nurses, they are clear that there is no separating the fight against ICE violence and for immigrant justice from health justice and physician well-being.

At the picket at Montefiore, which was just days after the murder of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti by ICE, physicians and nurses held a moment of silence.

“Let’s remember his life, his legacy of taking care of his patients, and trying to protect those people on Minnesota streets,” said nurse Michelle Gonzalez. “May our brother rest in peace, may we bring an end to the absolute injustice of ICE, may there be a day where we are no longer plagued by what is happening right now.”

Together, nurses and doctors, thousands of other union members, and communities across the country are continuing to fight whether or not they’re at the bargaining table–because they believe that day will come.

Understanding S.P.I.T.

What are the benefits of forming a union?

When we come together as housestaff, we have a unified voice for safe working conditions and better patient outcomes. This pandemic has demonstrated that having workplace representation is urgent and necessary. Thousands of residents across the country have organized union chapters and have won historic improvements for housestaff and patients through collective bargaining agreements.

What’s legal? What’s not?

The laws vary from state to state as well as the type of employer you are paid by – private or public.Generally, however, most laws give employees the right to act together to try and improve their working conditions, with or without a union.It is illegal for employees to be fired, suspended, or otherwise penalized for taking part in protected group activity.

Generally, it is illegal for employers to S.P.I.T.:

(Document any activity that may look like this)

Surveil

Administration and department leadership may not conduct unlawful surveillance of employees’ union activity. Identifying, tracking and surveillance of employee discussions about the union or union meetings is illegal.

Examples:

Supervisors cannot inquire about what goes on at union meetings, ask which employees attend the meeting, or even give the impression of such surveillance.

Promise

Administration and department leadership must not directly or indirectly promise any benefits or reward employees for refusing to sign a union card, or for voting against your union. They may not promise a wage increase or give preferential treatment in exchange for refraining from union activity. Encouraging employees to withdraw or repudiate union authorization cards is also unlawful. They may not solicit grievances about working conditions while expressly or impliedly promising corrections if residents do not form a union.

Examples:

“I can get you a job here or give you a good recommendation letter if you don’t get involved.”

Reminder: There is nothing holding management accountable to any promises they make and they do not have to follow through.

Interrogate

Administration and department leadership should not interrogate, or ask, any employee whether or not he or she favors the union, has signed a union card, or has gone to a union meeting.

You can always say you’re not comfortable answering their questions. Remember to ask whether they’ve talked to others, whether they know if they’re allowed to ask, and if they have concerns about residents forming a union and what they are.

Questions they may ask:

Have you heard of a union being formed? Are you involved? Have you been asked to sign a card? Do any of your colleagues have interest in forming a union? Who have you heard union talk from? Do you think you’ll join?

Threaten

Administration and program leadership must not threaten employees with harm or reprisals (economic or otherwise) if they decide to get involved with the union or sign a union card.

Examples:

Administration may not threaten to take away residency spots or current department benefits if the residents decide to form or join a union.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

Despite being generally protected, it is always a good idea to be extra careful:

Remember to be discrete and never seek advice or reveal to management/administration that you are considering unionizing
Refrain from using hospital property – both physical (printers, computers, phones) – and intellectual (email, paging/messaging systems) – in communicating regarding union matters
Be mindful of where and when you discuss unionization with your colleagues – being overheard talking about unions in the hospital “on company time” can be considered “solicitation,” so exercise caution and discretion
As long as you are using personal means of communication such as personal phones, emails, and only talking to other interns, residents, or fellows, the hospital cannot discipline you

Reminder: Forming a union is 100% our legal right and our vote is anonymous.

CIR Doctors Join NYSNA on the Line for the Union’s Historic Strike

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