Here are three updates on physician unions since Aug. 1, as reported by Becker's:
1. On Aug. 15, around 700 resident physicians and fellows at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque successfully negotiated a 5% salary increase. The raise was an amendment to the existing contract between the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union and UNM.
2. Resident physicians and fellows at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Calif., approved a new labor agreement with the hospital Aug. 7. The agreement provides a 30% raise for incoming residents over the next three years, meal stipends, protections against retaliation, changes to on-call shifts and more flexible education funds.
3. On Aug. 15, physicians at the University of Buffalo (N.Y.) officially authorized a strike to take place on Sept. 3 and 4. The strike will involve 830 resident physicians and fellows, and follows a year of what the union describes as "bad-faith bargaining."