1199ers Aid Doctors’ Organizing Drive in The Bronx
At. St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, NY, members of 1199SEIU are supporting 280 resident physicians in their efforts to become members of the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare (CIR).
In January, the doctors requested that St. Barnabas’ administration recognize them as a bargaining unit represented by the CIR. The doctors cited low pay, poor benefits and the inadequate support of the hospital’s educational program as their reasons for organizing. Management refused recognition, holding that the physicians are students not employees. So began the doctors’ fight for CIR membership.
“The doctors came to us for help,” says CNA Elva King, an 1199SEIU delegate at St. Barnabas. “They had been deemed students. How can they be students when they take care of patients every day?”
“To me union means union, no matter what union you’re in,” says King.
1199SEIU members began wearing stickers, handing out flyers, attending meetings and talking to residents about the importance of joining a union.
“They tried in the past to orgainze with CIR. They are our brothers and sisters so of course I’m going to help as much as possible,” says 1199SEIU Delegate Tom Cloutier, a lab technologist at St. Barnabas. “The 1199 delegates signed and delivered a letter to St. Barnabas’ CEO asking that he stop wasting our time and money fighting CIR’s organizing drive.”
St. Barnabas’ bosses did indeed fight the CIR organizing drive. The physicians received outspoken support from the community and numerous state and local politicians, including New York State Assemblymembers Richard Gottfried and Jose Rivera. The struggle eventually made its way before the National Labor Relations Board, which on May 22 handed down a decision stating that an election should be held within 30 days.
The workers at St. Barnabas are now preparing for that election. King says she’s proud of what 1199SEIU members are doing to help the doctors.“This brought us together. Communication is better. It’s not just that I’m a CNA and they’re doctors anymore. We’re all workers” she says. “It makes things less tense and the work gets done faster. This is good for our hospital.”