Stanford Health Care Residents and Fellows Vote ‘Yes’ to Union

Resident and fellow physicians at Stanford Health Care voted to unionize, the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU (CIR-SEIU) announced this week.

Out of more than 1,400 residents and fellows, 1,049 cast ballots, and 835 voted in favor of unionizing.

CIR-SEIU noted in its announcement that the successful vote follows a union organizing campaign that began in December 2020 with a resident-led protest against Stanford’s staff vaccination plan that excluded many frontline physicians from its initial rollout (nearly all residents, according to NPR).

Residents and fellows are looking forward to advocating for improved patient care and working conditions, according to CIR-SEIU.

They’re also hoping to improve residency to be more sustainable by addressing the root causes of burnout, a spokesperson for CIR-SEIU told MedPage Today in an email, as well as seeking true representation by having a seat at the table when it comes to:

• Disability equity
• Housing stipends
• Parental leave
• Expanded access to childcare support
• Expanded access to internal moonlighting opportunities
• Expanded access to wellness funds
• Maintenance of benefits

“Our doctors are united by our desire to provide the best possible patient care and strong worker protections,” Stanford pediatrics resident Ben Solomon, MD, said in a statement. “One thing the pandemic has made abundantly clear, in addition to the widespread equity issues in our healthcare system, is that our needs as physicians cannot be separated from those of our patients.”

In February, CIR-SEIU noted that Stanford Health Care refused to recognize a housestaff union despite a supermajority of more than 1,400 interns, residents, and fellows who delivered a formal demand to their employer. “This was emblematic of hospital management’s ongoing refusal to address resident concerns, leading residents to organize the union election through the National Labor Relations Board [NLRB],” CIR-SEIU stated.

“Hospital administration has let us down time and time again,” Stanford neurology resident Meaghan Roy-O’Reilly, MD, PhD, said in a statement. “With a seat at the table, we are equipped to take the advocacy for ourselves and our patients into our own hands. We understand the power of collective organizing, and we are excited to directly address these issues.”

For its part, Stanford Health Care said that it does not plan to contest the election results, according to a statement provided to MedPage Today via email.

“As we begin the collective bargaining process, our goal remains unchanged: providing our residents and fellows with a world-class training experience,” Stanford stated. “We will bring this same focus to negotiations as we strive to support their development as physician leaders.”

CIR-SEIU further noted in its statement that an ongoing physician and nursing shortage continues to affect hospitals nationwide, with housestaff being forced to fill in gaps in patient care with no additional support. Burnout is being exacerbated by 80-hour work weeks and salaries incommensurate with the cost of living.

“With its successful representation…Stanford housestaff now join the strong community of allied unions and fellow healthcare workers such as the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA), an independent union of Stanford nurses,” CIR-SEIU stated.

In fact, Stanford nurses just ceased a week-long strike as their union voted to approve a new, 3-year contract that CRONA says improves patient care and working conditions.

In the lead-up to the agreement, MedPage Today reported that Stanford Health Care and another Northern California system, Sutter Health, had antagonized nurses’ labor groups — including by withholding wages from striking workers — and that Stanford had also threatened to cease their healthcare coverage.

As for Stanford’s residents and fellows, CIR-SEIU noted that the election results must now be certified and finalized by the NLRB, which is expected to happen within the week. Nationwide, CIR-SEIU represents more than 20,000 residents and fellows, including those at UMass Memorial Health. Two UMass residents shared their experience bargaining for their first union contract in a MedPage Today opinion article.

“The surge in resident physician and fellow organizing around the country shows it is long past time for hospitals like UMass Memorial Health to respect the labor power of residents — first by recognizing our unions and then by agreeing to contracts that reflect the importance of our work and patient well-being,” wrote psychiatry resident Dipavo Banerjee, DO, MS, and family medicine resident Pratiksha Yalakkishettar, MD.