‘We are at the breaking point:’ BMC doctors rally for wage increase, benefits in new contract

Hundreds of Boston Medical Center residents gathered along the street outside the hospital Thursday afternoon, demanding a living wage and critical benefits in their new contract.

“We should not have to sacrifice ourselves to provide the great care that we do to our communities,” said Dr. Taha Khan, a resident physician in pediatric neurology. “We should be able to pour from a full cup. Our ask is very simple. Boston Medical Center needs to pay us enough and provide the benefits we need to live and work in one of the most expensive cities in this country.”

The Committee of Interns and Residents union representing the hospital’s 750 resident physicians has been in negotiations with the hospital since April, representatives said, and returned to the bargaining table with a proposal Thursday night.

That proposal, Psychiatry resident and bargaining committee member Dr. Anisah Hashmi said, includes a salary increase catching up with inflation and a living stipend tailored to help residents pay for rent, similar to ones offered at Tufts and Mass General Brigham.

The first-year resident salary at BMC is just under $67,000 as of July 2022, according to the hospital. This is less than the listed first-year salaries at area hospitals Mass General Brigham,  $78,540; Boston Children’s Hospital, $73,475; and Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, $71,000.

Some residents, speakers at the rally said, are on food stamps, taking out loans to pay rent, driving for Uber or working other jobs on top of 80-hour work weeks, selling bone marrow and unable to pay for childcare.

On average, Hashmi detailed, a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is 50% to 60% of a resident’s salary.

“Even those who are not exactly broke are broken in other ways,” said Brett Lewis, a third-year Family Medicine and Psychiatry resident at BMC. “Rates of burnout and moral injury are unprecedented.”

The union members did not speak to the possibility of a strike, focusing on the plans for negotiations.

Along with the main pushes, Hashmi said, the residents are looking for terms like affordable parking — some residents report paying around $280 a month for parking at the hospital — more time off, and financial support to attract and retain doctors coming from marginalized and underrepresented groups.

City Councilor President Ed Flynn — joined at the rally by Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune and Liz Breadon — cited the merger of public area hospitals into BMC in 1996, telling rally attendees “I think we lost a little bit of our soul when that privatization took place.”

“We are here today, because we believe that health care can look different, at BMC and everywhere,” said Hashmi. “We believe that through organizing, through fighting, one day our patients will have all of their human needs met and so will we.”