Resident Unions Part 1: How Can They Help?
Resident Unions Part 1: How Can They Help?
Sept. 1, 2022
The structure of medical training and board certification creates a power differential in that employment setting. Can resident unions help? EMRA*Cast host Matt Dillon, MD, (@mdmd_8889) talks with UCLA union members Anna Yap, MD, (@annayap) and Kenneth Kim, MD, about the power of a unified resident body.
Host
Matt Dillon, MD
ChristianaCare EM/IM, PGY-4
Twitter: @mdmd_8889
EMRA*Cast Episodes
Guests
Anna Yap, MD
Administration Fellow, UCLA-Ronald Reagan/Olive View
Board of Trustees, California Medical Association (2022-2023)
Past Executive Member, Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU
@annayap
When you received your employment contract after matching into residency, did you read it? Was there any question you would sign it, no matter what it said? The structure of medical training and board certification creates an unequivocal power differential in that employment setting. Can resident unions help? Part 1 of this series gets into the pros and cons of unionization.
Overview
EMRA*Cast host Matt Dillon, MD, (@mdmd_8889) talks with UCLA union members Anna Yap, MD, (@annayap) and Kenneth Kim, MD, about the power of a unified resident body. These three evaluate the pros and cons of resident unionization, a trending wave across the country. They provide useful tips/strategies for those who want to know more.
Take-Home Points
- More than 22,000 residents are unionized nationwide. It’s more common than you might think.
- Residents are a valuable yet vulnerable component of the health care workforce. They often have little say over the terms of their contract, but they provide crucial labor for their hospital systems.
- Unions offer the ability to pursue collective bargaining, which is the negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.
- The EMRA Representative Council has reviewed a resolution in support of resident unionization and has referred it to the EMRA Board of Directors for further study and development.
Resources
- Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU: Resident Labor Union
- Brajcich BC, Chung JW, Wood DE, et al. National Evaluation of the Association Between Resident Labor Union Participation and Surgical Resident Well-being. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2123412.
- Weiner S. Thousands of medical residents are unionizing. Here’s what that means for doctors, hospitals, and the patients they serve. AAMC News. June 7, 2022.
