Good News for Doctors-to-Be—and Organized Labor—as Govt. Rules in Hospital Workers Favor

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6083/good_news_for_doctors-to-beand_organized_laboras_feds_rule_in_hospital/

Wednesday June 9 5:02 pm By Jeremy Gantz

Memo to all intern and resident physicians working crazy long hours for (relatively) low pay at hospitals around the country: You are employees, and thus you have the right to form a union.

That's according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which mediates disputes between workers seeking to unionize and employers. Late last week, it made its first major decision (PDF link) since President Barack Obama's labor-friendly recess appointments in March. Late last week, issuing a decisive (and redundant) ruling that ends a long-running dispute between a New York City hospital and its 280 intern and resident doctors.


Residents at Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York City. (Photo courtesy of CIR-SEIU.org)


The NLRB's reasoning was simple: Eleven years ago, "the Board held that medical interns and residents, or house staff, are statutory employees with a right to organize under the Act. That <1999> decision, which remains the law, is directly on point." Predictably, two Democrats sided with workers and a Republican sided with St. Barnabas.

“This is the first time in over a decade that the question of whether resident physicians who provide patient care day in and day out in our nation’s teaching hospitals are students or employees has been addressed by the NLRB,” said Dr. Farbod Raiszadeh, president of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR)/SEIU Healthcare, which wants to represent Barnabas workers. “Their answer is as clear and unambiguous today as it was in 1999… Resident physicians are employees who deserve to have a voice in the workplace through full collective bargaining rights.”

The battle between the Bronx's St. Barnabas Hospital and the doctors—who "typically" make $45,000 to $60,000 each year working up to 80 hours each week, according CIR—is two years old and highlights how difficult it can be to join a union when an employer doesn't want you to—despite federal law that says you can.


FULL story at link.

[grilled onions]

1. The Patients Win Too!

In no other profession would people not question the quality of care for such long hours. It's crazy to think that we should be forced to put our life on the line allowing extremely overworked interns etc to make decisions when they are literally running on fumes.