Are doctors even eligible to unionize?

As medicine becomes more corporatized, an increasing number of doctors are considered employees and are joining together in unions to reclaim our power to advocate for ourselves and our patients.

Employment circumstances vary and may affect a doctor’s eligibility to unionize.

Who is Doctors United?

SEIU Doctors United is the largest and fastest-growing doctors' movement, representing over 43,000 housestaff and attendings from SEIU-CIR and Doctors Council-SEIU. This doctor-led organization fights medical corporatization, improves patient care and access, and enhances jobs. We collaborate with public health systems, leveraging the one-million-strong SEIU Healthcare for quality jobs and universal care.

What are the benefits of forming a union?

By forming a union like the residents, attendings can collectively bargain for a legally-binding contract with the UC. This contract will secure competitive wages, benefits, a meaningful voice in working conditions, and protective policies, ensuring our safety and well-being, which allows us to deliver the high-quality patient care deserved. Despite having ideas for improvement, a doctor’s individual concern about issues impacting them, our patients, and colleagues are often ignored.

Once established, unionization prevents the hospital from changing our salaries or working conditions without first notifying and negotiating the impact with our union.

What does forming a union have to do with patient care?

As doctors, our working conditions are our patients' care conditions. When the profit motive pushes hospitals to increase panel sizes, reduce visit lengths and generally expect us to do more with less, it is patients who suffer the consequences. Collective bargaining allows doctors to take control of our working conditions and build an environment where we have the time, space and emotional reserve to deliver high quality patient care.

The doctors in my hospital work in a wide variety of specialties and settings. How could one union represent all of us?

Doctors, regardless of specialty, face common challenges and share the goal of providing the highest quality patient care in healthy and sustainable working conditions.

By joining the largest and fastest-growing union of doctors, you gain the opportunity to compare experiences and share best practices, not only with colleagues at our facility but with other unionized doctors across the country.

Our collective strength as a union and as doctors lies in our diversity. Uniting across specialty, race, gender, ethnicity, and years of experience better positions us for collectively bargaining our contract and raising issues with administration. For this reason, member input and leadership across specialties and departments are not just welcomed but are imperative within our union. If necessary, union contracts can also include specialty-specific clauses.

What are dues and what are they used for?

Dues are used to cover the cost of organizing, negotiating and enforcing our contracts, such as legal and staff support. No one pays dues until eligible doctors vote to approve the first contract. The cost of dues is offset by the economic gains made by unionizing and winning our contract.

I have a good relationship with the administration. Why rock the boat with a third party?

A union isn’t a third party or an external, adversarial entity; it is you and your colleagues collaboratively advocating for improved working conditions. It establishes a formal structure for cooperation, allowing you to negotiate a legally-binding contract that addresses the priorities of you and your coworkers.

For example, some union chapters have successfully negotiated "union-management collaboration councils." These councils focus on enhancing the patient-doctor experience and empower supervisors to champion necessary changes that hospital administrators might otherwise overlook.

What do doctors have in common with janitors, Starbucks and other care and service workers united in SEIU?

The past few decades have seen a radical shift in the position of doctors within healthcare. Where doctors used to be predominantly owners of solo or group practices, a majority are now employees of large corporations. Like other employees of large corporations, doctors are increasingly subject to a leadership structure that is more concerned with profitability than quality. This power imbalance — between worker and employer — is prevalent in every industry, and SEIU members use our shared experience to leverage gains that benefit all working people.

How can I support the unionizing process?

Interested attendings are meeting to discuss workplace issues and organizing a union. When a majority is ready, they sign union cards. Once a supermajority is collected, the cards are filed with the labor board for union recognition, similar to how residents formed our union with CIR.

Will I experience retaliation for supporting a union?

You may be worried that supporting a union will cause you to be unfairly targeted, leading to negative consequences for your career, professional relationships, or visa status. It is illegal to retaliate against anyone for participating in union activity.

Moreover, when doctors form a union, it’s a collective–reflecting a diversity of race, gender, country of origin and experience–acting together on behalf of our patients and our profession. Your strength is in your numbers, so no one is singled out. 

What are my rights?

Doctors have the legally-protected right to:

• Form, or attempt to form, a union in your workplace

• Discuss improving your working conditions with your co-workers

• Organize without intimidation or retaliation by your employer

Employers often try to suppress doctors' voices, even though doctors have these rights. This is a key reason why attending doctors throughout the UC system are forming a union—they are no longer willing to be silenced.

Will I be forced to go on strike?

The greater majority of union contracts are settled without a strike, but there are moments when collective action, including strikes, can be a powerful tool to show solidarity and the significance of our labor. For residents, we have bargained contracts with the UC without having to strike. Like all important decisions in our union, the decision whether or not to strike can only be made by a majority vote. 

No one is obliged to strike, and the employer is given ten days advance notice to ensure measures are taken to protect patients. 

Are union dues spent on political endorsements?

Union dues are not used to support political candidates, however, members may voluntarily contribute funds to SEIU’s non-partisan political action committee.

As healthcare professionals, we know that who we elect and what they do in office affects the practice of medicine, our patients’ access to affordable care, and the services our communities need to thrive. 

Our member-led endorsement process focuses on selecting candidates who will actively champion our advocacy goals.

Why do we need to go public? 

A powerful union contract is not won behind closed doors; it is achieved through collective action. You are the union, and your unified power is what the employer respects and fears. You are the ones who will negotiate the contract.

Why do we need leaders in every department/specialty?

It is important to have diverse representation to ensure that the interests of every specialty are included and that no group is overlooked.

Why SEIU Doctors United?

Doctors United is the sole movement dedicated to building power among doctors at every stage of their career, connecting: Medical Students, Residents, and Attendings. In the UCs, Doctors United is already working with residents and med students for labor chapters across the different teaching hospitals.

How does the Attendings' Union benefit the Residents' Union?

Many residents within the UC system will become Attendings. This sets the residents up for the future where they continue to have a voice.

What happens after winning recognition?

After winning union recognition, you transition into preparing for bargaining. You all will begin bargaining surveys and nominate colleagues to represent your specialty at the bargaining table. 

How can a union with so many specialties represent our little silo/department? How can one contract cover so many specialties and diversities of doctors across the system?

Union contracts can include articles specific to different specialties. Therefore, it is crucial that every specialty, no matter its size, is represented on the organizing committee. Many organizing committee members later serve as representatives for their specialty/department during contract negotiations.

How much are dues?

Dues are set by the membership and typically are a percentage of base pay. Currently, CIR dues are 1.6% of salary; Doctors Council dues are capped at $1180 per year. The cost of dues is offset by the economic gains made by unionizing and winning our contract. Dues cover the cost of organizing, negotiating and enforcing our contracts, such as legal and staff support. No one pays dues until eligible doctors vote to approve the first contract.

Who will be included in the bargaining unit?

Our effort involves uniting non-senate attending doctors across the UC system. We have the strategic option to either seek recognition for individual campus-based units or pursue a comprehensive statewide bargaining unit. 

Within the UCSF community, senate faculty are also mobilizing to join Doctors United through a distinct bargaining unit. This particular arrangement is necessitated by specific legal requirements governing the organization of senate faculty members.

What have been the larger political wins for SEIU / CIR?

Our political advocacy has secured major victories, such as AB729 which expanded access to fertility treatments,  and the elimination of mental health disclosures on California licensing applications. We also successfully legislated due process rights for UC housestaff and established a $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers across the state. These wins demonstrate how SEIU and CIR leverage our unified strength to directly enhance the professional and personal lives of our members.

I talked with a member from another union who said that they have a really good contract that we could just join without having to bargain. Why wouldn’t we go with them?

Those contracts were reached without doctor representation during the negotiation process. We are forming a union for doctors, by doctors because doctors deserve a direct voice in decision-making to champion the specific priorities that affect our profession, the future of medical training, and the quality of care our patients receive.

Would you want a contract that was bargained and voted on by non-doctors?

I really like the idea of joining a union with so many members across the UC system already. Why don’t we join with the other healthcare workers?

We agree that being part of a large statewide organization has advantages. The question is whether doctors will have a strong voice on the issues that are unique to our profession.

Doctors United, with its expertise in bargaining for doctor contracts,  is building a statewide doctor organization where doctors set the priorities and lead the work around patient care, professional autonomy, and the future of medicine.

We can stand in solidarity with other healthcare workers while maintaining doctor-led representation.

Other unions are making promises around automatically getting their CBA applied to doctors? How will that work?

Existing union contracts don’t automatically apply to doctors. A contract only covers the bargaining unit that negotiated it. Before doctors could be covered, there would have to be a legal process to include them and bargaining over doctor-specific issues. That’s why the choice of which union matters. It’s about who is negotiating your first contract and whose priorities are at the table.

Would it be easier to negotiate with UC since some other unions already represent so many people?

The UC will bargain regardless of which union represents doctors. Size alone doesn’t determine bargaining power. What matters is whether doctors have a strong, unified voice at the table. Doctors United is doctor-led, so every bargaining priority centers doctors, making sure our voice is not diluted by competing priorities.

Can I rescind my card with another union?

It’s best to email them and respectfully ask to revoke your card and to ask for a confirmation receipt of your request.