Doctors at private hospitals are turning to unions to address the loss of autonomy and deterioration of working conditions that they believe are the result of increasing health-care mergers and acquisitions in the wake of post-pandemic economic strains on the industry.
Hundreds of physicians at the Allina Health System in Minnesota petitioned to unionize last week in what the union says is the largest group of organized doctors in the country. The new campaign marks another step for organized labor with the nation’s doctors, and unions predict a bigger push could be on the horizon.
While a unionized physician workforce could include higher medical costs, it also could improve doctor well-being and patient care, industry stakeholders say.
The group of 560 doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners filed their petition to unionize with the Doctor’s Council, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, on Aug. 11. The workers are spread across 61 family and urgent care clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to union documents filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Unionization among physicians has largely been confined to medical residents and public-sector doctors.
Organizing efforts among doctors at private institutions, however, have lagged behind other groups of employees. Organizers attribute the hesitation to...
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