Members of the Committee of Interns and Residents marched outside of Montefiore Moses in the rain Wednesday to call out the hospital's management for failing to reach a first contract after 16 months of bargaining. The residents say they are seeking basic rights such as due process and a patient-care fund.
Braving rain and wind, resident physicians at Montefiore Medical Center’s Moses campus rallied outside of the Bronx hospital Wednesday to call on the hospital administration to reach a contract agreement that eliminates fees for certain residents and establishes a due process system for the workers.
Residents at the Bronx campus voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents in February 2023, and the union has been in negotiations for the 1,200 workers’ first contract for 16 months. Yet Montefiore and the CIR remain far apart on key issues, among them the creation of a patient-care fund, the workers said.
Dr. Anthony Perez-Pino, an orthodontics resident at Montefiore Moses, said Montefiore administrators have so far refused to reduce or eliminate fees that dental and orthodontics residents are required to pay to work at the hospital.
“Here at Montefiore, we are treated differently than other residents. The difference here is that Montefiore charges us for the privilege of working in its clinics and serving the community,” he said during a press conference held before the march. “Dental residents are charged $5,000 a year and orthodontic residents are charged a staggering $35,000 annually, post-tax. These fees are deducted from our paychecks after taxes, making it even harder to make ends meet.”
He added that many dental and orthodontics residents have had to take out loans or rely on credit cards to make ends meet. According to the union, some residents earn as little as $16,000 a year.
“After my subsidized housing is taken out of my paycheck, I make about $6 a day,” Perez-Pino said. The resident also noted that Montefiore has not provided transparency about what the funds are being used for.
“The money certainly does not go towards our own program,” he said. “We have been bargaining with Monte for months and this is one of the issues they are refusing to budge on.… Montefiore must reduce or eliminate these fees to ensure that dental and orthodontics residents are able to support themselves, and are able to focus on their training.”
A spokesperson for the hospital said that "Montefiore is deeply engaged in our current conversations with the Committee of Interns and Residents, and we are committed to creating an agreement that honors the hard work of our house officers in a manner that is sustainable going forward.”
Dr. Ria Malhotra, an interventional pain management fellow, said Montefiore has continuously roadblocked their contract demands.
She said the residents sought a written financial commitment from the hospital to establish a patient-care fund, which is “commonly available at other hospitals. Monte categorically refused.”
She continued, “We then proposed to at least create a patient-care committee to give trainees an ability to identify areas of need within the hospital and the community, and direct resources where they are most needed. Monte is somehow rejecting that, too.”
Securing a patient-care fund that would provide necessary equipment and services was important, especially because the patients they served often faced disparities, Malhotra said.
“I know from my own experience within our rehab clinics that it’s next to impossible to get our patients a wheelchair. We often end up having to send them to other hospitals and sometimes ultimately find out that they were told they’d have to buy the wheelchair themselves,” she explained. “Imagine being told that after you’ve just suffered a stroke – it’s despicable.”
Workers said hospital management has also refused to establish a fair disciplinary process for residents and fellows, as they have demanded.
“What we are asking for is a just and neutral process for disciplinary matters to protect us from retaliation and unfair treatment. Instead, Monte wants the ability to punish residents whenever they want,” said Dr. Anita Amin, an internal medicine resident. “Fair due process is a critical protection, especially for residents of color.”
She added that resident physicians at other academic medical centers have those protections. “Monte, it’s not controversial, it’s standard practice,” Amin said.
The union called on the hospital to agree to a deal that improves the residents’ working conditions and provides them with “basic respect.”
“All in all, it seems that Monte is unable to reconcile with the fact that our fight for a fair contract is about more than just wages and benefits,” Malhotra said. “It’s about ensuring that we as resident physicians can continue to thrive in our work and in our communities.”
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