New York / New York / United States
FACTS ABOUT DOCTORS COUNCIL SEIU Doctors Council SEIU was formed in 1973 by the consolidation of two doctor associations that had been in existence since 1961. Doctors Council SEIU is a union of doctors, for doctors, run by doctors. Our President is Barry Liebowitz, M.D., who is a pediatrician, and our Executive Director is Frank Proscia, M.D., who is a psychiatrist. Doctors Council is governed by our House of Delegates, who are doctors elected by their colleagues from the facilities and hospitals we represent. Our doctors are represented by Doctors Council SEIU Representatives, who work alongside our members at our worksites and who are trained and assisted by our professional Contract Administrators. Staff is hired to carry out the goals, objectives and policies of the membership. Doctors Council SEIU has grown tremendously since 1961. We started from a small group of doctors employed by the Departments of Health and Welfare of the City of New York to today being a union of thousands of attending physicians, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and veterinarians employed by various agencies, hospitals, and private health care facilities. Doctors employed by New York City began their organizing efforts in 1959. The Association of Department of Welfare Dentists was incorporated into Doctors Association of the Department of Health in 1961. At that time, New York City paid per session doctors just $5.00 per hour and full-time doctors received only $7, 000 per year. Doctors Association immediately negotiated for its members a 36 percent wage increase, workers compensation coverage, sick leave and many other important benefits. While Doctors Association bargained with the City for new benefits, public health officers employed by the Department of Health formed their own organization in 1965. The Public Health Physicians Association in its first six years almost doubled the salary scaled of its members. Doctors Council SEIU has been the solution since 1973. In 1973, Doctors Association and the Public Health Physicians Association consolidated their organizations into a single collective bargaining unit called Doctors Council SEIU. Immediately, Doctors Council began negotiating for all attending doctors employed by New York City and the Health and Hospitals Corporation. The first Doctors Council SEIU contract was signed in 1975 and included substantial salary increases that were retroactive to 1972. After Doctors Association and the Public Health Physicians Association completed their merger in 1978, Doctors Council SEIU selected its first House of Delegates and officers, hired staff and established an office in midtown Manhattan. Doctors Council SEIU represents thousands of doctors. We are affiliated with the Service Employees International Union ( SEIU ), which has over 2 million members and is the largest and fastest growing healthcare union in North America. Along with our sister SEIU union, the Committee of Interns and Residents ( CIR ), we are also part of the National Doctors Alliance ( NDA ) whereby we represent nearly 17, 000 doctors nationally. Doctors Council SEIU provides many excellent services for our doctors/members. We negotiate Collective Bargaining Agreements with our employers that cover our wages and benefits, and our terms and conditions of employment. We seek to raise the wages and to improve the benefits of our doctors to ensure that we are all compensated adequately for all the hard work we perform every shift. Doctors Council SEIU also files grievances and argues arbitration hearings to enforce our contracts on behalf of our doctors and to protect the rights of our doctors. Doctors Council SEIU represents its members in negotiations and grievances with employers. Doctors Council SEIU seeks to define and establish the obligations of employers to doctors. We strive also to improve the working conditions of the doctors. We take on issues such as staffing, case and work loads, and scheduling and hours of work.
