SIUH / 1199 Negotiation Update – 9/16/2020

Staten Island University Hospital and the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East labor union met yesterday for our 16th negotiation session.

We were unable to reach any tentative agreements on the core issues that the parties discussed. This appears to be a result of the parties’ fundamental disagreement about applying the generic industry labor contract to PAs. As we have communicated to you before, our intent all along has been to create a new contract that is truly customized to reflect the unique professional role and status of our physician assistants (PAs). This requires recognizing the inherent differences in professional scope and job responsibilities between PAs and other 1199-represented team members at the hospital — while also factoring in how the role of our PAs may continue to evolve in the future.

Although we were unable to find common ground in yesterday’s session, we greatly appreciate the union’s flexibility and professionalism throughout these negotiations, which enabled us to work together to reach more than 50 tentative agreements up until this point.

For timely updates about the negotiations, visit our dedicated website for SIUH PAs. We look forward to making further progress at our next negotiation session on Oct. 9, and will keep you updated.