Here is a state-by-state breakdown of labor organizing efforts that have included physicians, and resident physicians and fellows, as reported on by Becker's since January 2024.
California
Resident physicians in Northern California reached a tentative labor contract with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente Jan. 6. The agreement covers about 470 resident physicians who are members of the CIR.
Resident physicians and fellows at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, Calif., approved a new labor agreement with the hospital in August 2024. 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.
Delaware
Newark-based ChristianaCare residents and fellow physicians voted 111-52 to unionize, establishing the first resident and fellow physician union in the state.
Illinois
In May 2024, resident physicians and fellows at the University of Chicago voted to join the CIR. Ninety-eight percent of voters cast ballots in favor of representation.
Massachusetts
Resident physicians, interns and fellows employed by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston voted 407-85 to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.
A group of 160 physicians, psychologists and physician associates at Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance filed paperwork with the state to form a union, citing concerns over burnout and unsustainable working conditions.
Primary care physicians at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals, both part of Mass General Brigham in Boston, are eyeing a unionization vote.
Michigan
In 2023, 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 2024, the group conducted a one-day strike.
Minnesota
The National Labor Relations Board certified the union election of more than 130 physicians at Mercy Hospitals in Coon Rapids and Unity.
New Mexico
In August 2024, 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 SEIU and UNM.
New York
NYC Health + Hospitals physicians reached a tentative agreement with system management after postponing their previously planned strike. More than 2,500 attending physicians at the system had been negotiating a new contract since September 2023.
Contract negotiations between University at Buffalo (N.Y.) resident physicians and their employer remain stalled after a four-day strike in September 2024.
Oregon
Renton, Wash.-based Providence received a strike notice on Dec. 30 from the Oregon Nurses Association, a union representing nearly 5,000 Providence workers, including physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners. The health system said its lead negotiator has since approached federal officials to explore reopening mediation with hospitalists at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, and physicians and providers at Providence Women's Clinic.
Pennsylvania
Resident physicians and fellows at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia voted to join the CIR.
Resident physicians and fellows at Philadelphia-based Temple University Hospital also voted to join CIR.
In a third Philadelphia-based physician labor move for 2024, physician residents at Penn Medicine, represented by CIR, have accepted their first union contract in October 2024.
Rhode Island
Nearly 230 Care New England Health System residents and fellow physicians employed at Kent Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Butler Hospital won their NLRB elections to unionize, marking the second group in the state to do so.
Washington
Renton, Wash.-based Providence received a strike notice Dec. 30 from the Oregon Nurses Association, a union representing nearly 5,000 Providence workers, including physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners. The health system said its lead negotiator has since approached federal officials to explore reopening mediation with hospitalists at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, and physicians and providers at Providence Women's Clinic.