Doctors Council SEIU

Welcome To Doctors Council SEIU     The Union For Doctors The Voice For Patients         Representing Doctors and Patients Since 1973.

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Bringing Doctors Together....

 

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Dr. Barry Liebowitz Re-Elected President of Doctors Council SEIU

Barry Liebowitz, M.D., was re-elected as President of Doctors Council SEIU. The vote was unanimous.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been re-elected president of this outstanding union which has made vast strides in improving patient care and protecting doctors’ rights throughout the country,” said Dr. Liebowitz.  “Our union is more energized, more united, and in more facilities than ever before.  And while every year, we face new challenges - especially in these trying economic times - every year we work together to find workable solutions.  Whether its organizing a new unit, such as Coney Island Hospital which we did just last week, or fighting for our patients in underserved communities, which we do every day, Doctors Council SEIU is committed to our membership, our patients and the communities we serve, and I am committed to continuing that mission as president.”

Over the previous term as Dr. Liebowitz, Doctors Council SEIU expanded its membership throughout the country including nearly 500 employed by the Cook County Health and Hospital System; negotiated numerous contracts at HHC hospitals in New York City; organized a relief mission to Haiti following the devastating earthquake in early 2010; and rallied to preserve public healthcare funding. In the last 8 years, Doctors Council has organized doctors at 16 medical facilities in New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

VICTORY!

Coney Island Hospital Doctors Vote Yes for Doctors Council

Coney Island Hospital Doctors voted to join Doctors Council on Wednesday, June 23rd, with over 83% of the vote in a
convincing election victory.

The doctors deserve credit for the work and time put into the organizing effort and the desire to improve their lives and patient care. We congratulate and welcome the doctors into our family. By standing together the doctors won our union.

Winning for our Members

Recent grievance and arbitration settlements and victories enforcing our contracts have led to our members’ jobs and benefits, such as retirement contributions, being protected, as well our members receiving large salary increases (in some cases over 22%) and payments totaling in excess of over $1,000,000.00 (one million dollars).  These victories cover our members who work at the various hospitals and facilities we represent and are on such issues as salary increases, board certification differentials, longevity and years of service levels, pension entitlements and more.  It is important to have a union contract that gives doctors a protected strong voice and that addresses wages, benefits and working conditions in a legally binding and enforceable document.  More and more doctors realize the protection of a guaranteed union contract with an employer is needed to protect and advance our rights and benefits as well as for job protection.    

“Our union performs many functions for our members.  This can range from speaking out on patient care issues, to healthcare reform advocacy, community and political interaction, communication and more.  Important functions also include protecting our members’ jobs and licenses.  And, our victories in enforcing our contract rights and benefits can lead to good financial gains for our members in pay and salary.  Doctors need to know that there is someone that will fight for us and that is Doctors Council SEIU,” state Dr. Barry Liebowitz, President, and Dr. Frank Proscia, Executive Director, Doctors Council SEIU. 

Read more.....

Doctors Council SEIU Members Win Strong Contracts in Difficult Economic Situations

              Rockland County Contract: 14.84% Raises
                    Other Recent Settlements Lead to
                      Wage Increases and Good Gains

From left to right, Dr. Frank Proscia, Doctors Council SEIU Executive Director, and Doctors Council SEIU members Dr. Carmen Padilla and Dr. Osiris Rivas.  Dr. Proscia notes that “The long road to this successful contract was well worth the wait.  When our members stick together and be involved through Doctors Council SEIU, be it in politics, community issues, bargaining, patient care, organizing- no matter the issue- we win for our members.”  Read more...

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Cook County, Illinois Members in Action -

Doctors Council SEIU Members Active In 2009 and Start of 2010:
In our Workplaces, in Bargaining, in our Communities and Politically

Doctors Council SEIU members in Cook County, Illinois are leading the way in being active and organizing to address their issues.

Read more to see how our members have been involved to address the issues that affect our doctors, our patients and our facilities.

Doctors Council SEIU & Cook County Reach Agreement for Doctors at Stroger Hospital to Join Union

Stroger Hospital Doctors Join Colleagues at ACHN, Cermak, Oak Forest and Provident as well as Medical Examiners as part of Doctors’ Union

After nearly 25 years of efforts in Cook County, Illinois approximately 250 doctors at Cook County’s Stroger Hospital have organized with Doctors Council SEIU as part of an agreement reached with the Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board.  The agreement was signed in late August and covers attending physicians, dentists, psychologists and podiatrists.  The Illinois Labor Relations Board certified the bargaining unit in September.  Read More....

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Dr. Bindy Crouch, Doctors Council SEIU member, Helping in Haiti

Doctors Council SEIU responded within hours of the tragedy in Haiti.  We reached out to our members seeking interested volunteers to go to Haiti and give medical care.  The response from our members was a great desire from many doctors to go to Haiti.  

Dr. Bindy Crouch is one such Doctors Council SEIU member who has been in Haiti for over a week.  

Here are excerpts from Dr. Crouch’s texts:

…Our group is doing mobile clinics and going out to temporary settlements doing whatever basic care there we can.  We are focusing on establishing capacity for primary care clinics in them….Setting up clinics at many of the settlement camps… I am basically heading a clinic with one army medic.  Some Haitian doctors just showed up, so they’re going to work with me today.…Heading to Jacmel- a couple hours away – there are 6 government clinics that need doctors.  We are heading there to see patients and look for Haitian doctors and try to get the system of clinics running….So, two other doctors and I traveled to Jacmel via car (about 2 hours from Port-au-Prince).  We're accompanied by a driver and a translator.  We're here now checking out 8 dispensaries - clinics run by Ministry of Health - in Jacmel.  We rented an old, Chevy SUV today to go up into the mountains to see three of them - we were told getting to one of the clinics would depend on our ability to get across the river...turns out, we had to actually drive up the river bed - so good thing the river was fairly dry!  Anyway, clinics were barebones - with literally almost no meds, no electricity and no running water. All are staffed by auxiliaries - similar to our LPNs.   We are trying to fund some docs at the sites and get supplies in (we brought some supplies with us today)….We're heading back to Port-au-Prince in the morning - I'm hoping to get back to the mobile clinics in the settlement camps...hopefully can get back to my clinic in Carrefour (where the pics are from)....

Dr. Bindy Crouch providing medical care for a child

….All is well- back in Port-au-Prince and back running same clinic in settlement camp- some think our camp has grown to 10,000- also now we’re getting lots of patients from outside of the camp.  I saw about 40 patients and did a bunch of “admin” stuff between about 9:30 and 4.  Some other docs are supposedly seeing over 100 patients per day at clinic!....

This blog from SEIU HealthCare Pennsylvania Allegheny General Hospital RN Cece Peterson is informative and powerful, and it features Doctors Council SEIU member Dr. Bindy Crouch:

….The clinic was closed on Sunday so that the staff could have a well-deserved day of rest. We delivered supplies anyway, just to see what was happening in the neighborhood. I took Dr. Bindy  with me on a whim; this was her first visit to Bolosse. While we were there, a gentleman asked us to look at a sick baby. The sight of this severely malnourished child is one that I will never forget.

We took the woman and four of her children to University Hospital, where Concern had just that very day opened a center for supplemental feeding. Here is Bindy, holding a 2-year-old girl who is not only malnourished, but has been blind from birth.

Bindy’s contributions have been great; the need for primary care in the community is immense, and this is her field. She's a trouper, she throws herself into whatever she's asked to do, and she always does it with a smile.

We are proud of the great work and dedication of Dr. Crouch and all the doctors who are helping in Haiti

Doctors Council SEIU member Dr. Fred Martin In Haiti

 

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Haiti -- How You Can Help

If you are interested in learning about ways to help, including making donations and adding your name to a list of doctors willing to volunteer and go to Haiti, please read more.

Fighting to Keep Hospitals Open in Our Communities

On March 1st, Doctors Council SEIU members joined doctors, nurses, other health care unions and community members in a rally outside St. Vincent’s Hospital.  The rally stressed the need to keep hospital beds and patient services in our communities.

 
Dr. Barry Liebowitz, President of Doctors Council SEIU, addressing the rally and calling on politicians and hospital leadership to save Saint Vincent’s Hospital.

Community and Political Action:

Speaking out for our Profession, our Patients and our Jobs
“There has never been a more important time than now for doctors to be involved in our communities and politically.  With all that is occurring in health care reform and on economic budgetary issues- on a national, state and local level- we have to make sure our voices are heard.” 
Dr. Frank Proscia, M.D., 
Executive Director, Doctors Council SEIU

Read more to learn how Doctors Council SEIU members are being active.

Community and Political Action Leads to Meeting with U.S. Senator Schumer

Before and after our press conference to save our health care safety net and public hospitals and facilities, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer contacted us and the members of our coalition.  This led to a meeting with Sen. Schumer in which Doctors Council SEIU and members of our coalition discussed health care reform with the Senator.  A substantive discussion occurred, including on such topics as expanding coverage for the uninsured, ensuring proper funding for the public health care system and protecting against any negative impact on the safety net.  The meeting ended with a renewed energy to work together on health care issues and reform.  This shows the value of community and political action.  When doctors are active through our union, Doctors Council SEIU, we can address issues on a national, state and local level- all of which impact us and our patients where we work.

City Hall Press Conference

We support health care reform and congratulate our New York State Congressional Delegation for leading the way.  But the current Senate Bill will harm New York State and New York City and threaten public health care facilities, including HHC.

That is why we are having a Press Conference with Community Members, Advocacy Groups, Unions and Politicians. Read more....

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2009 ELECTION RESULTS

Doctors interested in representing their colleagues, making significant changes in their work environment and committed to improving the health care system, recently ran for the position of Doctors Council SEIU Delegate.  What follows are the results of our 2009 House of Delegates election.  Read More....

TAKING ACTION ON HEALTH CARE AND PATIENT CARE

Doctors Council SEIU members active in 2009    

This year has witnessed Doctors Council SEIU members and our patients face unprecedented challenges at work, in the budgets that financially effect us, in our communities and politically.  Yet, members are taking action to speak out for ourselves and our profession, as well as on health care and patient care issues.

We have grown Stronger Together!  Members have stepped forth in many ways.  What follows are just some examples.  This has led to the creation of a Rapid Response Team.
Read More..

Advocating For Healthcare Reform

Doctors and Nurses Travel to Washington, D.C. to Champion Healthcare Reform
Day of Action “Health Care 09.  We Can’t Wait”
Taking the Case to the Steps of Congress

On Thursday, June 25th, Doctors Council SEIU members joined with hundreds of doctors and nurses who traveled to Washington, D.C. for a massive day of action for real health care reform.  The healthcare providers met with their Members of Congress and participated in a rally on Capital Hill.  The healthcare professionals also attended a town hall meeting.  Read more......

 

Advocating For Our Patients

Community and Political Action Leads to "Communities Health Advocacy Day”

Doctors Council SEIU members pride ourselves on being a union for doctors AND A VOICE FOR PATIENTS.  To have a voice for patient care be heard, we realize we must work with community organizations as well as elected politicians.

In May, Doctors Council SEIU coordinated with community advocacy organizations in planning a “Communities Health Advocacy Day” to be held on May 20th to get our message across to the City Council to restore the required funds to protect patient services that our communities need. Read More... 

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Patient Care Committee Meetings

Patient Care Committees Addressing a Number of Issues

Doctors Council SEIU strives not only to improve and protect the wages and benefits of our doctors through a good contract.  We also endeavor to address working conditions and patient care.  We believe that doctors should have more of a real voice in patient care decisions.  To that end, we have bargained into our contracts a Patient Care Committee that requires administration and management to meet with representatives from each department and to address patient care issues. Read more...

GRIEVANCE AND ARBITRATION SUCCESSES DEFEND OUR CONTRACTS AND RIGHTS

Two Settlements with New York Medical College at Metropolitan Hospital
Our members of New York Medical College at Metropolitan Hospital (pictured left) benefited from two large settlements.  Due to grievances being filed, we successfully settled a Dental session pay arbitration worth nearly $100,000 in backpay to some members.We also settled a Surgery call pay case worth up to $200,000 in pay to members.   Read More...

Assault On our Profession

No doctor is immune to the dramatic changes that are taking place in health care today. Doctors are being held accountable for unrealistic productivity goals that they had no voice in setting and are finding it increasingly difficult to adequately treat all patients assigned and handle their case/ workloads.
These changes in medicine have occurred without the consent, much less the consultation, of doctors. Furthermore, these changes have placed doctors in the precarious position of bearing the responsibility for patient care with little or no authority over how to exercise it, causing frustration and a sense of helplessness among dedicated health professionals.

However, there is a solution.  

The solution is DOCTORS COUNCIL SEIU.

Doctors who never considered unionization in the past, now recognize that a union offers a vital mechanism to reassert control over the practice of medicine. In addition, a union provides doctors with a unified front to fight for their rights as well as the rights of their patients. Doctors from all clinical services have their concerns represented by advocates who understand medical issues as they directly affect doctors.

 

Doctors Council SEIU Video

Dr. Barry Liebowitz Re-Elected President of Doctors Council SEIU

Barry Liebowitz, M.D., was re-elected as President of Doctors Council SEIU. The vote was unanimous.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been re-elected president of this outstanding union which has made vast strides in improving patient care and protecting doctors’ rights throughout the country,” said Dr. Liebowitz.  “Our union is more energized, more united, and in more facilities than ever before.  And while every year, we face new challenges - especially in these trying economic times - every year we work together to find workable solutions.  Whether its organizing a new unit, such as Coney Island Hospital which we did just last week, or fighting for our patients in underserved communities, which we do every day, Doctors Council SEIU is committed to our membership, our patients and the communities we serve, and I am committed to continuing that mission as president.”

Over the previous term as Dr. Liebowitz, Doctors Council SEIU expanded its membership throughout the country including nearly 500 employed by the Cook County Health and Hospital System; negotiated numerous contracts at HHC hospitals in New York City; organized a relief mission to Haiti following the devastating earthquake in early 2010; and rallied to preserve public healthcare funding. In the last 8 years, Doctors Council has organized doctors at 16 medical facilities in New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.