Posts tagged University of Pennsylvania

    Penn Medicine Residents Vote to Unionize

    May 11, 2023 // "With 88% of participants voting in favor, the frontline Penn Medicine doctors are the first statewide to gain union representation," according to the Committee of Interns and Residents/Service Employees International Union (CIR/SEIU), which reported Monday that the vote was 892 to 110. Specifically, the residents and fellows at the Philadelphia health system "look forward to advocating for the conditions they need to provide top-quality care without compromising their mental, physical, or financial wellbeing," the union stated.

    Push to unionize at college dorms is growing

    March 31, 2023 // Colleges have been a breeding ground for illness and social havoc since the pandemic began, and much of the onus has been placed on RAs, who are appointed to shepherd the well-being of an entire floor of younger students. In the past, that has typically meant hosting events, mediating roommate disputes, and perhaps guiding an overserved first-year safely to bed. For this, RAs are compensated with free or discounted housing and meal plans. But in recent semesters, and especially since schools reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic, those responsibilities have ballooned. RAs who spoke with the Globe describe being deputized as “COVID police” to enforce masking and social distance, and wrangling students whose university — or even high school — experience was stunted by lockdowns and remote learning. Several schools later assigned RAs to longer overnight “on call” shifts and additional check-ins with residents.