Posts tagged Committee of Interns and Residents
Op-ed: Can Zohran Make NYC a Union Town Again?
September 9, 2025 // The new mayor could host big online unionization trainings with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have already done. If this led even a small fraction of Zohran’s 60,000-plus volunteers and over 6 million social media followers to start organizing their own workplaces—or to take a strategic job to unionize it—this could potentially generate thousands of new unionization campaigns. And were Mamdani to act upon our proposal to launch a broad Movement for an Affordable New York (MANY), then the pool of new potential workplace organizers would grow significantly.
University of Minnesota doctors file to unionize with country’s largest doctors’ union
March 26, 2025 // The union says physicians at the school are struggling with low wages and lack of staffing. "These and other issues compound the impact of an already highly stressful workplace and lead to rampant burnout — making it difficult for doctors to want to stay in Minnesota after they complete their training at UMN," the release said. The University of Minnesota Labor Rights Coalition helped physicians in their move to file.
White Coats Take a Cue From Blue Collars
February 26, 2025 // Harking back to the emergence of physician unions, we're seeing a resurgence of interest among resident physicians in hospitals across the country. To varying degrees, U.S. hospitals still require resident physicians to work long, irregular hours (in some cases as many as 80 hours a week). In combination with other adverse workplace issues, this has led to house staff dissatisfaction with the status quo and, ultimately, to unionization.
Brown medical residents unionize, prepare for negotiations
January 30, 2025 // In interviews with The Herald, residents said their top priorities are winning compensation increases and matching contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Felicia Sun, a fifth-year neurosurgery resident at Rhode Island Hospital, noted that residents don’t have access to benefits like loan forgiveness and education stipends like other physician employees.
Kaiser Doctors In Silicon Valley Move To Unionize
May 3, 2024 // Resident and fellow physicians, who are finishing their post-graduate training, are the last of Kaiser's workers without union recognition in Northern California. They would join clinical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, optometrists and other employees. The Committee of Interns and Residents is the largest resident and fellow physician union in the county, representing more than 32,000 medical workers.
California’s Early-Career Doctors Unionize, Demand Fair Pay and Conditions
April 9, 2024 // Increased pay, overtime compensation, housing stipends and more manageable schedules are at stake. Unions representing residents have bargained for fertility benefits to support delayed family planning. Dr. Berneen Bal, a third-year psychiatry resident at Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center, said some colleagues have even traveled out of state where it’s cheaper to freeze eggs. “As more residencies have unionized, it’s put greater criticism on this training structure that we’ve all just accepted for so long,” Bal said.
Mass General Brigham physician trainees vote to unionize
June 12, 2023 // A website related to the union drive states that the effort is focused on "working to build collective power to advocate for a just, safe and equitable MGB for all housestaff, workers and patients." Among concerns cited by medical residents and fellows are a need for a living wage, adequate benefits and compensation commensurate with the cost of living in Boston, and financial support or subsidized child care for housestaff with children.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Philadelphia at union leaders’ meeting
June 8, 2023 // Henry and Verrett introduced Harris by highlighting her lived experience as a woman of color and her track record of supporting unions and workers. “She's joined fast food workers on the picket lines, she's joined striking home care workers, and she's been to South Carolina with hospital workers, and the list goes on and on and on,” Verrett said. “Her street cred is real.” Harris, the chair of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, highlighted the recent accomplishments of local unions and thanked workers for their efforts.
George Washington University Medical Residents Vote To Unionize
May 1, 2023 // Of the 455 residents and fellows eligible to vote, 253 ultimately cast their ballot in favor of organizing a unit, with 16 voting no. (To win, the group needed a simple majority.) They’ll be represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), an arm of Service Employees International Union (SEIU). CIR also represents the residents and interns at Children’s National Hospital and Howard University Hospital. The organizing campaign began around the fall of last year as Miller and other colleagues gauged interest amongst their coworkers and connected with residents at other programs who had led similar unionization drives. Before filing for the election, a majority (67%) of residents and fellows signed authorization cards to be represented by CIR. GWU declined to voluntarily recognize the union, prompting organizers to file for a ballot election with the National Labor Relations Board — which took place Thursday.
MGB Housestaff File for Official Union Election After Hospital System Declines to Recognize Union
April 12, 2023 // Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union, is the parent union of MGB Housestaff United. Annie Della Fera, a communications coordinator for CIR, said while organizers had hoped for voluntary recognition, “it’s pretty common for them to reject recognition and instead have residents go through the NLRB election process.” Within hours of the request, MGB Interim Chief Academic Officer Paul J. Anderson wrote in a message that the hospital system would not recognize them, adding that the hospital prefers to “work directly with our trainees as individuals” on resolving workplace issues. “We agree with the NLRB and the federal courts, which have described the NLRB’s secret ballot elections process as the gold standard in determining whether a majority of employees desires union representation,” Anderson wrote.