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Bergen County Doctors Receive 12% Increase in
3-Year Contract Negotiated by Doctors Council

Contract “Firsts” Include Salary and Per Diem Minimums;
Compensation for Continuing Medical Education Tripled

Paramus, NJ: Doctors at the Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, New Jersey have ratified a contract that provides them with a 12% increase over 3 years along with several other significant increases.  This is the second contract that Doctors Council negotiated on behalf of the approximately 30 doctors in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry at Bergen Regional.

The schedule for salary increases begins retroactively with a 2% increase effective March 15, 2005 and another retroactive increase of 2% on September 15, 2005.    Additional 2% increases take effect on March 15, 2006, July 15, 2006, March 15, 2007 and September 15, 2007 for a cumulative total of 12% over a 3-year period ending on March 14, 2008.

“In addition to providing Bergen doctors with a significant increase in salary, this contract breaks new ground in several areas ranging from a large increase in compensation for Continuing Medical Education to major improvements in salary minimums and overtime pay,” said Barry Liebowitz, M.D., President of Doctors Council.   

Several “firsts” make this contract stand out.  For the first time at Bergen Regional:

• Salary minimums were achieved without board certification differentials.   At the Department of Medicine, a starting salary minimum was established for the first time at $143,000 and in the Department of Psychiatry, the salary minimum went from $120,000 to $146,000, an increase of 22%.
  
  
• A minimum hourly rate for per diems was established at $75 per hour in the first year of the contract, $80 per hour in the second year and finally $85 per hour in the third year, representing an over 13% increase over the course of the contract.
  
  
• The formula for determining compensation for Continuing Medical Education (CME) was changed from a lump sum of $18,600 for approximately 30 doctors to $2,000 per doctor, tripling the total amount of CME compensation available to all doctors.
  
  
• Doctors working beyond their regularly scheduled hours will now receive the greater of the per diem rate or their pro-rated hourly salary, whichever is higher.

In addition, the contract achieves a 20% increase in board certification differentials – from $3,000 to $3,600. 

Founded in 1973, Doctors Council is the nation’s oldest and largest union of attending physicians, representingmore than 3,000 doctors based largely at New York City’s municipal hospitals, clinics and agencies including most HHC facilities.It is currently among the city’s fastest growing unions, having organized doctors at 11 medical facilities in the last 5 years.In 1999, Doctors Council affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  As part of that affiliation, Doctors Council partnered with the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) and formed the National Doctors Alliance (NDA) which represents over 17,000 doctors nationwide.

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