Resident physicians and fellows at Mass. General and Brigham and Women’s rallied outside both hospitals on Thursday, calling for a contract agreement with the Mass General Brigham system.
The doctors began negotiations with MGB last year after a successful effort to form a union. The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU) represents 2,500 doctors in the system.
“We have been at the bargaining table with MGB for over a year, and we honestly are not making any progress, partly because we do not feel that MGB is bargaining fairly with us and in good faith,” said Dr. Madison Masters, who is a first-year resident in the department of internal medicine at MGH.
The union said MGB offered doctors a 2.5% pay raise. Masters said that isn’t enough to keep up with the rate of inflation and the increased cost of living.
“We are paid less here compared to our peer institutions like at Stanford, UCSF, New York Presbyterian: Columbia and Cornell,” she said. “These are the sorts of institutions that MGB, as a Harvard institution, is really competing with for getting residents. And we are much less well paid compared to them.”
The doctors are also asking for other benefits, including coverage for fertility care. Masters said the demands of medical training mean many delay having families until they’re older, and fertility benefits are provided at comparable hospital institutions.
“It’s something that should be accessible to anyone, but it’s particularly important for residents who choose to give up, honestly, the most fertile years of their lives in order to become excellent physicians and researchers,” she said.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for MGB said the hospital system is trying to come to an agreement with the union.
“We have the highest respect for our trainees and value the many contributions they make in the care of our patients during their education here at our hospitals,” the statement reads. “We are committed to bargaining in good faith to reach a fair, equitable contract that supports our trainees and patients. Patients and families can be assured that they can access the hospital as usual and there is no interruption to hospital operations, and we respect the union’s right to hold the informational picket.”
But for Dr. Jade Connor, a third-year resident in internal medicine at MGH, it’s discouraging that the process is still dragging on. She said conversations started off well, but seem to have reached a stalemate recently.
“A lot of our proposals that we’ve given have just been met with silence or flat out ‘no’ with no reasonable negotiation,” she said. “So we’re asking for a fair contract and just actual bargaining in good faith. So it’s been pretty disappointing, the kind of lack of response and the stonewalling that has been happening.”
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
