Cambridge CIR Delivers Contract in Tough Financial Times

“It was definitely a long, drawn out negotiation,” reports Dr. Theo Murray, a PGY 2 Psychiatry resident at Cambridge Hospital, which has 120 CIR members.

Dr. Murray joined the CIR negotiating team as an intern in September 2006 –- but the team had already been negotiating for five months! Serious financial problems, exacerbated by the new Massachusetts healthcare reform law, plagued this crucial safety-net hospital –- and tougher times were on the horizon.

A three-year contract was the norm at Cambridge, but when that was nixed by hospital administration, the negotiating team pushed hard for a one-year “roll-over” of the current contract —- with key improvements: a 4% salary increase and $200 added to the professional allowance, in exchange for health benefit changes.

Then the team went back to the table...and 13 months later (Dr. Murray now two-thirds of the way through his PGY 2 year) a two-year settlement was reached in late March 2008. Besides 3.5% salary increases each year and work space issues addressed, the team was also able to thoroughly include a recently affiliated family practice residency into all aspects of the contract. While the three year ordeal was “challenging,” said Dr. Murray, “CIR staff helped us to keep our priorities clear.”