Attending physicians across the University of California system are moving to form a union with SEIU Doctors United, in what the union describes as the largest unionization effort of attending physicians in the United States.
According to a July 20 news release shared with Becker’s, the campaign, called UC Doctors United, aims to organize nearly 10,000 attending physicians across the UC system. Physicians cited unsustainable patient loads, administrative burdens and staffing shortages as driving the effort, according to the release.
“As doctors, our working conditions are our patients’ care conditions. We are fed up with a corporatized healthcare system that leaves us powerless, overworked and disrespected,” Hannah Spungen, MD, an emergency medicine physician at UCLA, said in the release.
In a statement to Becker’s, UC said it takes concerns about workload, burnout and professional support seriously. “UC Health locations continually assess staffing, recruitment, security practices and workplace needs, recognizing that conditions vary across specialties, departments and care settings,” the statement read.
The announcement follows a tentative agreement reached by nearly 6,400 UC interns, residents and fellows with the UC system, which the Committee of Interns and Residents, an SEIU affiliate, said includes an 18% salary increase and other benefits. The attending physician drive comes as clinicians nationwide have increasingly sought union representation amid concerns over staffing and burnout.
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