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OAKLAND — About 50 Highland Hospital resident and intern physicians walked off the job briefly Wednesday afternoon to protest stalled labor negotiations between the Alameda Health System and their union, the Service Employees International Union.
Hospital operations carried on as normal Wednesday during the 20-minute walkout, Alameda Health System spokesman Terry Lightfoot said. Highland is part of Alameda Health System, a public health care consortium of five hospitals and four wellness clinics.
Highland Hospital residents and interns have been without a contract since the end of November, said Kim Carter, director of SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents. Interns are medical student graduates in their first year of supervised training. After their first year, they become residents, and continue training.
The union is at odds with Alameda Health System’s proposal to cut the physicians’ $70,000 patient care fund — which resident doctors can use to purchase equipment and items such as iPads, cell phone charging stations and ultrasound machines, according to a union release. The union also objects to Alameda Health System’s proposal to stop reimbursing interns and residents for Drug Enforcement Administration licenses, which allow them to prescribe certain drugs to patients.
“The hospital is posing a direct threat to our contract this year, threatening the future caliber of residents who will come to Highland Hospital and take excellent care of our patients,” said Sally Mahmoud, a second-year resident in the hospital’s emergency department.
Alameda Health System also wants to lower food reimbursements for physicians and remove the requirement that maintenance is done on call rooms — where physicians take breaks and fill out paperwork — according to the union. The union is also seeking guaranteed access to wireless hospital phones.
Lightfoot said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on the union’s specific qualms with the contract proposal, since negotiations are ongoing.
“We’re confident that as long as we’re both at the table working on these issues we’ll come to an agreement that will benefit not only our patients but reflect our appreciation of the work done by our residents,” Lightfoot said.
The walk-out was the first labor action by interns and residents in more than 25 years, according to the union. Their next bargaining session with hospital administration is scheduled for Monday, Carter said.
“We’re prepared to escalate if we need to,” she said in regards to whether the union was prepared to strike.
Nurses picketed Wednesday at San Leandro and Alameda hospitals, which also are part of Alameda Health System. The nurses, part of the California Nurses Association union, also are in contract talks.
