By Steve Wishnia

Doctors at four New York City public hospitals have set a strike deadline for Jan. 13—and one of the contractors that employs them is encouraging coworkers to cross picket lines if they walk out. Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, has asked the parties to go into mediation for 60 days.

The possible walkout would involve close to 1,000 doctors at Queens Hospital, Jacobi, North Central Bronx, and South Brooklyn, where attending physicians voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize a strike. The four are operated by New York City Health + Hospitals, but the doctors are employed by private affiliates contracted by NYC H+H: Mount Sinai at Queens, and Physician Affiliate Group of New York (PAGNY) at the other three.

“We do not want to strike, but chronic understaffing and burnout are putting us and our patients at risk,” the Doctors Council SEIU union announced on social media Jan. 2, giving the 10-day notice legally required for strikes at health-care facilities.

The union said it would be the largest work stoppage by attending physicians in New York City history.

“We have been negotiating in good faith for over a year to reach an agreement that addresses the crisis of dedicated doctors leaving our hospitals, but it’s clear our employers are not prioritizing the long-term health of these hospitals or our communities,” Doctors Council President Dr. Frances Quee said in a statement.

Mayor Adams, however, told Dr. Quee, PAGNY interim CEO Dr. Edward Chew, and Mount Sinai chief operating officer Joshua Forcum in an email that “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.”

He offered Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion as a mediator, and requested that the three parties and NYC H+H “postpone a work stoppage and any further implementation of employer proposals for 60 days,” so doctors could continue to serve “during these critical winter months.”

The mayor asked the parties to give him a yes or no by the close of business on Monday, Jan. 6.

The issues

Dr. Quee told Work-Bites that the strike is based on unfair labor practices it has filed complaints about with the National Labor Relations Board: Mount Sinai and PAGNY’s refusal to bargain over key areas of compensation, and PAGNY’s “unlawful premature declaration of impasse and unilateral implementation of an offer the vast majority of Doctors Council bargaining committee members found unacceptable.”

NYC H+H and the three affiliates, PAGNY, Mount Sinai, and NYU-Langone, have been in talks with the Doctors Council, which represents the more than 2,500 doctors employed by affiliates at 10 of the 11 city hospitals, since September 2023. No bargaining sessions have been held since October 2024, when PAGNY imposed its last contract offer at the seven hospitals it covers.

That last offer “included pay increases, but ultimately did not address the crisis of recruitment and retention, as these increases kept many departments well below a competitive salary,” Dr. Quee told Work-Bites. The salary increases, she added, “were negated by cuts to a range of benefits,” including paid sick and vacation time, continuing medical education, and health benefits, endangering doctors’ dental coverage.

“We continue to encourage all parties involved to work together at the bargaining table to prevent a strike and ensure that quality care remains uninterrupted for our patients,” NYC H+H said in a statement, noting that the doctors who filed the strike notice are employed by the affiliates.

Affiliate encourages strikebreakers

PAGNY said Jan. 2 that it “believes a strike is unfortunate and comes despite PAGNY’s approach to the ongoing contract negotiations with Doctors Council being in a spirit of collaboration, while taking into account the finances of our funder, NYC Health + Hospitals.”

It said the contract it imposed after declaring an impasse in bargaining “implemented significant wage and benefit increases for eligible Doctors Council members” and would “assist in recruiting and retaining the doctors needed to staff the NYC Health + Hospital facilities.”

The October letter imposing that offer was sent by Seyfarth Shaw, one of the nation’s most notorious union-busting law firms, one of several outside law firms NYC H+H’s board approved hiring last September. It included a pay hike, but also raised health-care premiums to between 3% and 6% of income, depending on salary, and increased some copays.

And on Dec. 31, PAGNY sent a message telling Doctors Council members that “all of you have the absolute legal right to work during a strike.”

It instructed them that if they wanted to “cross the picket line without being fined by the union,” they should resign their full membership, and included a form letter to do that. They would give up the right to vote in union elections, but would pay lower fees instead of dues, and the union would still be required to represent them.

It warned, however, that “if you cross a picket line before” that resignation goes through, “you may be fined or disciplined by the union.”

“We also continue to provide our physicians with information about their rights and options under federal labor laws,” a PAGNY spokesperson told Work-Bites. “We welcome a meeting with the Doctors Council at any time before January 13 and have communicated our willingness to continue to negotiate.”

Union: Don’t ‘undermine teamwork’

“PAGNY has disseminated misleading information,” Dr. Quee said. “We believe this is intended to bust our union, undermine members’ unity, and make sure that the frontline doctors don't exercise their collective voice to advocate for themselves and their patients.”

The Doctors Council, she added, “does not fine members or punish them for not going on strike, but we encourage them not to undermine the teamwork of fellow doctors to achieve a fair contract in which all would benefit.”

She said the union is working with the employers to schedule negotiation dates and expects “to be bargaining all of next week.”

The union’s bargaining committee and leadership will decide whether the strike will be for a limited duration or until whenever a deal is reached, and whether to hold strike-authorization votes at other hospitals.

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