Last week, more than 150 resident physicians at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, New York, staged a three-day walkout. The doctors, who are part of the residency program run by Mount Sinai Health System and are represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents–Service Employees International Union (CIR-SEIU), ended the strike on Wednesday, May 24, after securing a tentative agreement.

The strike was the first by hospital doctors in New York City in over three decades. Elmhurst residents say they went on strike to force Mount Sinai back to the bargaining table for new contract negotiations after management had refused to budge on demands including salary increases and hazard pay provisions for situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. Jacobin’s Sara Wexler sat down with Joya Dupre, a second-year resident at Elmhurst and a CIR delegate, to discuss the union’s demands and the strike.