CIR Residents Win Another Wage Increase
On April 23, 2008, the CIR Negotiating Team successfully concluded its 2008 Salary Re-Opener negotiations with UNM.
For the second year in a row, the negotiating team brought home substantial raises for every PGY level, from 5% for PGY1s to 9.3% for PGY5s. This latest contract builds on the gains won in 2007, when housestaff saw salary increases from 5.3% to 10.3%.
"Before we joined CIR/SEIU fellows like myself in their fourth year of training were earning $42,661.00 a year," said Shadi Battah, CIR member and PGY 4 Fellow in Pulmonary Disease/Critical Care. "After bargaining our first wage increase in 2007 and again this spring the salary rate for a fourth year resident will increase to $50,555.00 on July 1, 2008. This raise represents the power of collective bargaining and having a unified voice."
With such strong achievements in only two years, we are well on our way to achieving lasting improvements for ourselves and for our patients!