Last week I put up a cross-posted a diary about resident physicians forced to work 24-hour days. The conversation (comments) below the piece were fascinating. It seemed like most people were in favor of having these physicians working less hours, mainly for the safety of their patients -- and themselves.
One of the solutions to bargaining hours of service is to do so collectively, in other words, organize a union.
The resident physicians at St. Barnabas in the Bronx, NY -- who the last post was mostly about, got some incredible news last night. The National Labor Relations Board issued a decision stating that the physicians are statutory employees with a right to organize.
The hospital has held the physicians back, claiming the physicians didn't even have a right to vote for unionization based on the theory that these doctors were "students," and therefore not eligible for union rights. Whether the hospital knew it or not, this idea of theirs is simply not true.
On the other side of the fold is a cross-post on this news. I am bringing it here to piggy back on my last diary.
NOTE: This piece appeared here first.
NOTE: Disclosure -- I am an employee of the Service Employees International Union in Washington, DC
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a significant decision this week holding that St. Barnabas Hospital physicians and resident physicians have the right to organize and form a union.
St. Barnabas is in the Bronx, NY.
Clearly this is unbelievably exciting news for the 280 resident doctors who overwhelmingly voted to organize their union with the Committee of Interns/SEIU Healthcare just one year ago.
Despite a 1999 NLRB decision ruling that medical interns and residents are statutory employees with a right to organize under the Act, the hospital chose to challenge the residents' petition, arguing that the 1999 decision did not apply. "That decision, which remains the law, is directly on point," the Board wrote.
The hospital administration argued that the resident physicians were "students" and not entitled to the rights of traditional employees. While that appeal slowed things down a little, the resident physicians were steadfast and focused in their organizing campaign. Then the big news came from the NLRB, ultimately paving the way for the resident physicians to have their votes counted and to complete the process of forming their union.
"This is the first time in over a decade that the question of whether resident physicians who provide patient care day in and day out in our nation's teaching hospitals are students or employees has been addressed by the NLRB," said Dr. Farbod Raiszadeh, President of the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare. "Their answer is as clear and unambiguous today as it was in 1999. Residents physicians are employees who deserve to have a voice in the workplace through full collective bargaining rights," he added.
The resident doctors at St. Barnabas who are often working more than 80 hours per week, earning $45,000-$50,000 a year, recognized early on that they needed a union. They knew that with a union in place they could potentially get their hours better defined, their pay reflective of the work they put in, and can address the issues of violence on the job, a fact that has been extensively explored in their organizing efforts.
With this decision handed down by the NLRB it is just a matter of time before the resident physicians will get what they worked so hard to achieve, the right to collectively bargain..