Residents and fellows at four Brown-affiliated hospitals filed to unionize Friday. It’s the group’s first steps to holding elections that, if successful, would result in 950 physicians joining thousands of other unionized doctors nationwide.
Organizers wrote that the decision stemmed from an effort to prevent burnout and “gain a seat at the table to advocate for (residents) and their patients” in a Wednesday press release. The group, consisting of four potential unions from Brown-affiliated hospitals, filed to gain representation through the Committee of Interns and Residents, a nationwide union representing over 34,000 resident physicians.
The 950 residents are employed by Brown University Health, formerly known as Lifespan Health, and Care New England. The employers did not voluntarily recognize the workers’ unions by a Monday deadline, CIR Spokesperson Rachel Nass told The Herald.
But according to Brown University Health spokesperson Sharon Torgerson, the CIR had petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an election before the health system had a chance to respond. On Friday, the organizers both asked for voluntary union recognition and filed for an election.
Torgerson added that Brown University Health is working with the NLRB to facilitate an election.
NLRB rules stipulate that voluntary recognition can serve as an alternative path to unionization, eliminating the need for an election. But the organizers will likely hold elections, in which they will have to win a majority of votes to gain recognition from their employers.
If recognized by the health systems’ leaders, the unions will represent all interns, residents, chief residents and fellows at Rhode Island Hospital, Butler Hospital, Kent Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital.
Doreen Gavigan, a Care New England spokesperson, confirmed with The Herald that they received notice of the residents’ intent to unionize.
In a statement, Torgerson wrote that Brown University Health “residents and fellows play a critical role in delivering high-quality care, and we greatly value their contributions.”
Prior to Friday’s union filing, momentum had been building for four years, organizers told The Herald.
Unionization has been “a long time coming,” said Felicia Sun, a fifth-year neurosurgery resident at Brown University Health’s Rhode Island Hospital.
The campaign emerged out of a grassroots effort “to prevent residents from having to go to the brink of burnout or worse, for the sake of their patients,” said Katherine Spiegel, a fourth-year neurology resident at Rhode Island Hospital.
“None of us did this because we thought it was going to benefit ourselves,” she added.
Spiegel said she attended the union’s first organizing meeting in her first year of residency.
Sun said that she had expected the first three years of her residency to be “quite grueling and demanding.” The current seven-year program expects 80-hour weeks and requires 24-hour calls every three days for the first three years of residency, she said.
But she didn’t expect to spend this time completing administrative tasks that seemed geared towards meeting the hospital’s “service needs,” like scheduling appointments or completing paperwork.
“There are a lot of things that we as residents have to do that are not necessarily part of our job or educational experience,” Sun said, adding that she hoped a future contract could ensure a balance between residents’ educational needs and the hospital’s service needs.
The residency matching process also offers fourth-year medical school students little choice or bargaining power over their wages and working conditions, Sun said. “You’re just handed a contract, and you didn’t field multiple offers.”
Inspired by residents “unionizing around the country,” Sun joined the Rhode Island Hospital’s union organizing committee in the hopes of eventually securing contract items like compensation increases, childcare benefits and free rides home after a 24-hour call — mirroring benefits given to other unionized residents around the country.
The group’s press release said doctors often “struggle to afford the cost of living in Providence,” impacting their ability to care for themselves and their families as they care for their patients.
“Moving to Rhode Island to start residency is especially difficult for folks who come from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine,” the release reads. Campaign leaders want to “fight for changes that make residency more accessible.”
In interviews, residents said they were optimistic about winning recognition and eventually securing a strong contract.
“We’ve all been working for a long time towards this,” Spiegler said. “Everyone’s pretty excited about the union, and so we’re going to capitalize on that and continue to make progress.”
Ethan Schenker is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
Claire Song is a Senior Staff Writer covering science & research. She is a sophomore from California studying Applied Math-Biology. She likes to drink boba in her free time.
