Doctors’ union and NYC Health + Hospitals reach tentative deal to avoid strike

Doctors Council SEIU and affiliates of NYC Health+Hospitals (H+H) have reached a tentative deal to avert a strike in which nearly 1,000 doctors at Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital, Queens Hospital Center and South Brooklyn Health would have walked off the job.

The union had advocated for higher pay and other measures to alleviate chronic understaffing and turnover. Months of negotiations in the contract covering 2,800 doctors had made little progress since September, and a work stoppage was set to begin Jan. 13 .

Now that a tentative deal has been reached, the union’s bargaining committee has recommended approval, and members will vote in the coming days.

The agreement includes substantial salary increases, recognition and retention bonuses and a $12 million “flexible physician compensation pool” that allows for pay adjustments in future staffing needs. It also restores cuts to sick time, adds contributions to members’ benefit plans, increases reimbursements for continuing education and includes Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

In a statement, an H+H spokesperson said, “Our physicians provide the high-quality care that our patients have come to expect at NYC health + Hospitals. We are pleased that the Doctors Council and our affiliates have come to a tentative agreement that is fair to our physicians, while also addressing the shared goals of doctor recruitment and retention. This agreement will ensure that we can continue to serve all New Yorkers who require health care, without exception.”

The tentative agreement comes after a Jan. 10 City Council hearing in which doctors sounded the alarm about the effects of burnout, turnover and inadequate time with patients. Physicians at the city’s public hospitals are generally paid less than their private sector counterparts, making it difficult to recruit and retain new employees.

Frances Quee, president of Doctors Council SEIU and pediatrician at H+H Gotham Health, Blevis, testified that she had to take on a second job in order to raise her two children.

“We are physicians, and I don’t think ‘strike’ has ever been in our dictionary or in our minds. We’re just trained to take care of patients,” said Quee. “But it got to a breaking point where people could not take it anymore.”

Experienced doctors nearing retirement want new doctors to replace them, “but no one’s coming,” Quee said.

Dr. Joaquin Morante, a Bronx native and pulmonologist at Jacobi, said at the hearing that due to understaffing, his patients often wait two weeks to get a cancer diagnosis and weeks longer to begin treatment.

“I am compelled to speak out when I see a system that is letting down those it is supposed to care for,” Morante said.

In a statement announcing the tentative deal, Quee praised it as a step towards helping the city’s frontline doctors fulfill their purpose.

“Our mission as NYC H+H doctors is to care for patients and families, regardless of the color of their skin, the country where they are from or their ability to pay,” said Quee. “I am proud that this tentative agreement puts us on a path to enhance care — for our patients, our communities, and the dedicated doctors they entrust.”

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