Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Wednesday marked the second day of striking for 829 UB medical residents, who are fighting not only for livable wages, but for benefits that are on par with what other medical residencies are getting offered in the area.
"Like a health care plan without a $3,200 deductible, training stipends for exam fees and equipment or hazard pay during blizzards that make leaving work unsafe. They claim they couldn't make any of these changes," said Dr. Steven Moran, an internal medicine resident.
"Our union proposed a salary increase of the exact amount of these things as they would cost per resident as a possible solution, the total sum of this would equal about $15 million over the next three years in addition to our pay increase. Let me be clear, this number is fair. It includes a cost of our deductible, money put into a retirement plan, hazard pay and after three years, will only put us on par with Syracuse residents today."
The UB resident negotiators, the leaders of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), say that according to their research, University at Buffalo alone, who operate with Kaleida and ECMC to employ residents under United Medical Resident Services (UMRS), receive over $150,000 per residency from the federal government and additional funds from the state, totaling over half a billion dollars annually. Despite this, resident staff earn less than minimum wage after taxes, while executives earn millions.
"Behind you is probably the lowest paid healthcare workers in the entire community of Buffalo, when you factor in the fact they work 80 hours and they're earning less than minimum wage. They walk through the doors of those hospitals, every single employee of that hospital earns more than they do. That's not right. The math doesn't add up," said UAPD lead negotiator Robert Boreanaz.
"Each of the residency programs throughout the entire state of New York get the same amount of taxpayer dollars sent to it in order to pay the wages and benefits as well as the training for these residents. Somehow, miraculously, every other program can pay the residents of their program better wages and better benefits for the people involved in this program. UB and all of these affiliate hospitals, Kaleida, ECMC, they all pay into this program. Why? Why can the other programs pay better benefits and pay better wages? The math does not add up. We need accountability for taxpayer funding of these programs. We need transparency."
On Sunday, UAPD and other UB medical resident leaders met with the hospital negotiators that encompass UMRS. Dr. Morna says the UMRS met the salary increase demands, but failed to provide the essential benefits and promise better working conditions.
"If UB cannot make any sense and come to a rational agreement with us, we will proceed in contacting and petitioning state and federal agencies to investigate this black hole of UB financial accounting," says Dr. Gary Bussey UAPD President.
"Since the Buffalo patients and the community are also affected by this, we should create a community interest or watchdog group to help shed light on how UB spends the monies, the monies that are generated, like I said, hundreds of millions of dollars, and how they spend it on their house staff, New York State legislatures or attorney general of New York may be of help to follow this trail
Local News
