A large majority of residents and fellows at Northwestern Medicine hospitals and clinics voted in favor of unionizing, making them the biggest union of medical house staff in the Midwest with nearly 1,300 doctors.
The National Labor Relations Board’s Chicago office started the ballot count Monday morning and found the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University workers voted 794 to 148 in favor of union representation, Kayla Blado, board spokesperson, said in a statement. The results will be certified by the board in the coming week.
The residents, chief residents, fellows and interns at McGaw Medical Center will now be represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents, which represents more than 30,000 residents and fellows across 11 states. In 2011, some 800 residents at the University of Illinois at Chicago were part of the first group of doctors completing residency programs/medical training in Illinois to unionize with the committee, a unit of Service Employees International Union, according to a news release.
Doctors at Northwestern regularly work over 80 hours a week and say they are “overworked and underpaid,” according to the news release from the Committee of Interns and Residents about the results.
“Having a seat at the table means we can advocate for fair pay and improvements to our working conditions, allowing us to dedicate ourselves fully to our training and to providing the highest quality of care to our patients,” Dr. James Hammock, a first-year psychiatry resident at Northwestern Medicine, said in the news release.
With union representation, the Chicago doctors will now look to negotiate a new contract with their employer. The group first filed a petition with the labor board to be represented by CIR in December.
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“Throughout this process, we sought to ensure that every one of our residents and fellows had the opportunity participate in a fair election,” McGaw Medical Center said in a statement. “We respect this outcome and the decision of our residents and fellows. We remain committed to them, and to providing medical training that enhances the future of medicine. Our focus will remain on supporting our residents and fellows and providing excellent care for our patients and communities.”
Dr. Paige Hackenberger, a fourth-year plastic surgery resident, said the “overwhelmingly majority” who voted in favor of the union brings “so much excitement” as the group now prepares to move into collective bargaining.
“This is the culmination of all those conversations and feelings and effort leading up to today by so many people that want to have a say in what our training environment is like,” Hackenberger said.
Hackenberger said the historically long training periods of surgical specialties coupled with a “lack of transparency and accountability” throughout that time led her to want a voice through the union.
“There’s an understanding that there are so many antiquated elements of the system, and the win today is a reflection that we are optimistic about change in the future of medicine,” she said.
Better pay and benefits to keep up with increasing cost of living could also be important bargaining points, Dr. Hebron Kelecha, a third-year OB/GYN resident, said, “to not only support us during the time we’re in residency but also support us in the future.”
“Our next steps are to elect a bargaining team and survey the group to figure out what our bargaining priorities are,” Kelecha said. “This is something that’s going to be representative of all of us, so we want to make sure our needs are reflected across the board.”
