Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Tuesday marked Day 1 of a weeklong strike outside of Oishei Children's Hospital, as hundreds of University at Buffalo medical residents and fellows are fighting for livable wages.
"When I found out these guys were making $58,000 a year at the time, working 80 hours, like $14.60 an hour. I thought back at all the other contracts we've had. We have about 7000 doctors nationwide that are a part of our union. And I say this, these people need us. These people have no voice," said Dr. Stuart Bussey, President of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD).
"They have the lowest salary in New York [State] of any of the other comparable residencies. The health care benefits are poor, no retirement, no contingency funds or meal funds, or anything on a side-by-side comparison. It really delineates how screwed up [this is]."
About 830 UB medical residents, over a year ago now, signed onto organizing with UAPD to get their voices to the bargaining table.
Residents receive their paycheck from University Medical Resident Services, Inc. (UMRS), a shell company. Because UMRS receives funding from area hospitals such as Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) to meet the payroll of the residents, the shell company claims it needs approval from Kaleida Health, ECMC, or UB to improve resident wages, benefits, and work conditions. Kaleida Health, ECMC, and UB have all met with the shell company, but have refused to meet with the residents to address concerns.
The residents’ frustration peaked after multiple unfair labor practices charges were filed against UMRS. Those charges include:
- Bargaining in bad faith
- Discriminating against/bullying residents for their union participation (violations of Sections 8(a)(1) and (a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act)
- Unilaterally degrading healthcare benefits of residents and fellows during the bargaining process
The UMRS most recently sent this response to media outlets:
"Over the past 12 months of collective bargaining, UMRS has received the support of UB and the stakeholders in the WNY medical community in an attempt to reach an agreement with UAPD.
"Despite UMRS' best efforts to reach agreement – including providing the union (UAPD) with a salary proposal that is virtually the same as the union’s proposal – the union has decided to move forward with the strike. This disappointing news from the union comes after a September 1 bargaining session in which the union made a last-minute demand, little more than 24 hours prior to the strike, for an additional $15 million in salary increases over three years. It is pretty apparent that, by doing this, the union is not interested in settling this contract negotiation any time soon.
"Their counterproposal is not fiscally responsible for UMRS or the hospital training sites. It also fails to consider the critical role our local hospitals play in serving patients in our community.
"Additionally, it does not fully consider the tremendous value of the educational and training benefits provided to the residents by our hospitals and UB’s Office of Graduate Medical Education, which ensure residents and trainees develop the foundational clinical skills and knowledge required to successfully practice independently.
"While we are disappointed with the union's recent actions that prevented an agreement to avert a strike, UMRS will continue to bargain in good faith with the hope that an agreement will soon be reached."
"From the research that we've done in 10 years, we've trained 20 ENT doctors, none of which have stayed," added Amy Beattie, physiatrist resident and pain medicine fellow on the picket line.
"In Rochester, that percent is something like 67%, they keep their doctors. And the difference isn't the quality of the training, it's the fact that we're not allowed to lay our roots here. We can't survive. You can't have patient care when you don't have doctors. Training programs are supposed to be the recruitment engine for the hospital systems. You have 820 doctors that come to this region to train, and for them to be turned away, to be told that they're not deserving of a living wage, and then to tell them that they cannot come to the hospitals here that they serve. This should not be the discussion."
"It is very bittersweet. We care about our patients deeply," said Lauren Lucente, a fourth-year psychiatry resident on the picket line. "That's why we went into this field. That's why we're working 80, 90 hours a week. But we can't give if we don't have our cups full ourselves. You can't pour from an empty cup. So we need to also advocate for ourselves, like we advocate for our patients."
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