Resident physicians, interns and fellows at Massachusetts General Brigham have reached a tentative labor contract with the health system.
The three-year agreement, reached May 6, would cover more than 2,600 housestaff represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union, according to a union news release shared with Becker’s.
Housestaff voted to unionize in 2023 and have been in negotiations with Somerville, Mass.-based MGB for roughly two years.
Under the new agreement, which is retroactive to July 1, 2024, union members would see their pay increase by a total of 7.5% over the life of the contract, an MGB spokesperson confirmed to Becker’s.
Union representatives said the deal also includes a $50,000 wellness budget to support mental health resources for physicians, as well as “critical due process protections.”
“We fought long and hard for a fair contract that addresses our economic, mental and physical well-being, and we prevailed!” William Ford, MD, a resident physician at Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Internal Medicine Department, said in the union release. “This first contract provides MGB housestaff with benefits and protections that will improve our sense of security and our quality of life so that we can be at our best for the people of Boston. We won a strong contract and we established an even stronger coalition of advocates who want to continue to see our Massachusetts healthcare system put patients over profits. We are just getting started.”
MGB Chief Academic Officer Paul Anderson, MD, shared the following statement with Becker’s:
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative two-year contract agreement with the Committee for Interns and Residents, pending ratification, that codifies many of the important benefits already provided to trainees at Mass General Brigham.
“Our top-ranked residency programs offer a tremendous education that prepares trainees for robust and successful medical careers after graduation. We are profoundly grateful for the exceptional contributions our trainees have made to our patients and healthcare system, and we take pride in the fact that they have consistently been among the highest-paid in the country and continue to be the highest-paid in Boston.
“After 18 months and dozens of negotiation sessions, we look forward to focusing together on supporting our patients and their families, who remain at the center of all that we do.”
The union expects a ratification vote will occur at the end of May.