The physician workforce faces a number of converging factors –– heavy workloads, insufficient pay, staffing shortages and an increasing lack of autonomy in employed settings. Some have turned to unions and labor action as a tool in improving conditions for themselves and their patients.
Here are five physician unions and labor moves in 2024, as reported by Becker's and according to Cornell University's Labor Action Tracker. This list does not include nurse unions or non-physician healthcare worker unions:
1.) University of Chicago. In May, resident physicians and fellows at the University of Chicago voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. Ninety-eight percent of voters cast ballots in favor of representation.
2.) Sacramento(Calif.)-based Kaiser Permanente. Over 400 resident and fellow physicians in Kaiser's Northern California campuses initiated the unionization process in April, just one day after UChicago resident physicians announced their efforts to unionize. Kaiser physicians are already represented by unions in other parts of California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.
3.) Ascension St. John Hospital (Detroit) and TeamHealth. Last year, emergency medicine physicians contracted through TeamHealth, a private equity-backed staffing firm, voted to unionize with the Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians. In April, the group conducted a one-day strike.
4.) Allina Health (Minneapolis). The National Labor Relations Board certified the union election of more than 130 physicians at Mercy (Coon Rapids, Minn.) and Unity (Fridley, Minn.) hospitals. Members joined the Doctors Council Service Employees International Union.
5.) Newark, Del.-based ChristianaCare. In June, physicians at CristianaCare locations in Delaware and Maryland voted to join the Doctors Council, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Of the 431 votes cast, 288 were in favor of union representation. According to the Doctors Council, the ChristianaCare vote marks the largest union of private sector physicians in the U.S.