CITYWIDE – A GROUP OF nearly 1,000 doctors at four public NYC hospitals, including South Brooklyn Health (formerly Coney Island Hospital), Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx and Queens Hospital Center, this week gave notice to the city’s NYC Health + Hospitals corporation that they’re ready to strike on Jan. 13 if contract negotiations do not succeed by then, reports ABC News. The doctors, who are part of the Service Employees International Union, say their old contracts have been expired for four months, and are demanding higher pay and staffing levels. NYC H+H says it hopes the parties can work out a deal at the negotiating table and avoid a strike.
“There are real consequences to the extreme understaffing and high turnover rates we contend with throughout NYC Health + Hospitals facilities. Failure to support physicians has too often meant breaks in continuity of care, longer wait times, and patients being forced to travel far from home to get the care they need,” Dr. Michael P. Jones of Jacobi said in a press statement.
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