While unionization among healthcare workers and professionals is a familiar phenomenon, resident physicians and fellows joining unions has only grown in recent years. Indeed, since the start of 2025 alone, at least five groups of resident physicians and fellows have opted to form unions at their health systems.
"Physician unionization has massively increased since 2020, especially among interns and residents," Rebecca Givan, PhD, associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J., told Becker's. "This reflects the specific strains put on healthcare workers during the pandemic and the widespread interest in unionization among young professional workers across numerous industries."
Groups that have voted to unionize with the Committee of Interns and Residents, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, in 2025 work primarily at health systems in the Northeast, including Newark, Del.-based ChristianaCare, and Care New England and Brown University Health's Rhode Island Hospital, both based in Providence, R.I.
Residents and fellows have also held votes at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Temple University Hospital and Jefferson Health's Einstein Healthcare Network, all based in the Philadelphia area.
Since mid- 2020, CIR-SEIU has grown from close to 18,000 resident physicians and fellows to more than 37,000 in 2025, according to a union spokesperson.
Moreover, CIR-SEIU is not the sole physician's union in the U.S. For example, resident physicians and fellows at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore voted in June to unionize with the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
Dr. Givan attributed the movement toward unionization partly due to a bandwagon effect as resident physicians see their peers unionizing. She also noted that many recent elections are in the same city, as was the case in Philadelphia.
Following unionization elections, resident physicians often point to a desire to ensure patients' and their own well-being. For their part, health systems often emphasize their respect and gratitude for their resident physicians, as well as their commitment to bargaining in good faith.
Dr. Givan pointed to an increasing number of staff physicians unionizing as well. In 1998, the American Medical Association estimated that between 14,000 and 20,000 physicians belonged to unions. That number grew to 46,689 in 2014, and reached 67,673 in 2019.
Additionally, a study published by JAMA in December 2024 found there were 77 petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union that included physicians, as well as 44 filed over 2000 to 2022 and 33 over 2023 to 2024.
Dr. Givan said she expects unionization to continue among physicians. Furthermore, as housestaff (residents and fellows) finish their training and move into other jobs, the unionization trend may spread into those roles as well.