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Mayor, Council both trying to avert doctors' strike ahead of Jan. 13 deadline
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Jan 4, 2025
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Courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Jan 4, 2025
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Both sides of City Hall are attempting to avert an impending doctors strike at four New York City public hospitals — a potential disaster for low-income patients that could stop more than a thousand physicians from delivering care.
The City Council is holding an oversight hearing on Friday to dissect grievances raised by the Doctors Council SEIU, the union representing doctors within the city’s Health + Hospitals system who are threatening to strike over stalled contract negotiations with their employers. Mayor Eric Adams entreated the union and the hospitals’ private affiliates in a letter to return to the negotiating table with a mediator and postpone the work stoppage and “any further implementation of employer proposals” for 60 days.
The planned Jan. 13 strike would pause treatment from doctors at four hospitals: Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, North Central Bronx Hospital and Coney Island’s South Brooklyn Health.
“Health + Hospitals’ system really is the system that floats healthcare for the most marginalized New Yorkers,” said Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa, who chairs the civil service and labor committee. “To have these four facilities with the possibility of a full work stoppage and being on strike is going to be catastrophic for community health.”
According to union leaders, the strike would be the largest by attending physicians in the city’s history.
Doctors say they are burnt out from understaffing and draining work conditions. They are seeking improved pay and benefits in negotiations that have dragged on since the fall of 2023.
While some doctors at the city’s public hospitals are employed directly by NYC Health + Hospitals, doctors who are threatening to strike at these four facilities work for private entities contracted by the city — Mount Sinai and Physician Affiliate Group of New York.
Doctors have pressed H+H and their direct employers to address concerns about staffing and some have pointed to the added stresses of a city hospital directive to slash the time doctors spend with patients in order to accommodate more people.
“Coming from a community where I used to work in a hospital, by the time you ask one question, your time is up,” said Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, who chairs the hospitals committee and used to work as a registered nurse. “So to get to the bottom of the real cause to diagnose a patient is not an easy process.”
The doctors’ allies in the Council say the stoppage would come at a time when residents need them the most — at the height of winter, when illnesses like Covid and the flu become more prevalent.
“That the same communities where poverty rates are high … where we know things like asthma and diabetes and cancer and heart disease are high — this is where these hospitals serve,” De La Rosa said.
Mayor Adams’ Jan. 3 letter to the doctors union and the private employers said stalling services would have dire consequences for communities.
“A strike of physicians at four public safety net hospitals in three boroughs poses substantial risks to the health and safety of the city's patients and communities,” the mayor’s letter reads. “There is never a good time for any disruption to these and other services, and I am especially concerned about that possibility as we confront freezing temperatures and winter respiratory illnesses.”
The Council’s hospitals, labor and health committees will co-lead the Friday hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
Tagged
hospitals
COVID-19
Health and Science
new york city
new york city council
labor
Mayor Eric Adams
Michelle Bocanegra
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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