Queens Hospital Could Strike For The First Time Since 1990

QUEENS — Hundreds of resident physicians at Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals voted to authorize a strike, gaining 93 percent of votes in favor, if the facilities' operator fails to agree to demands around wages, benefits, and other issues.

“We do not want to strike, but we will be forced to take that step if MediSys refuses to do the right thing and bargain in good faith, because the only thing more urgent than our economic needs are our demands around patient care,” said Dr. Neha Ravi.

The last strike, held by 600 nonmedical workers at Jamaica Hospital, took place in 1990.

Doctors in both hospitals, many of whom are immigrants, are demanding higher wages as the costs of living in New York skyrocket while residents work 80 hours a week and scramble to fill in the gaps in staffing.

Physicians said MediSys Health Network has bargained in bad faith and ignored issues brought to the hospitals' operator.

“Decades of hospital closures have left Queens with the worst hospital capacity in the city and now CIR doctors are facing heavy patient loads and are sacrificing their education and well-being to care for our communities,” said Council Member Lynn Schulman, Chair of the Health Committee.