January 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 1
NLRB gives go-ahead to resident unions in private institutions
BY JANE STOEVER
The National Labor Relations Board opened the floodgates Nov. 26 for residents in private hospitals to unionize.
But family practice residents may not rush through the gates.
"Family practice residents will be one of the least likely groups to need collective bargaining," says Jennifer Aloff, M.D., of Midland, Mich. She chairs the AAFP National Congress of Family Practice Residents.
"Most family practice residents are pretty happy with their working conditions, their pay, their learning opportunities, the patient care they provide," says Aloff. "I haven't heard a lot of rumbling."
In 1976, the NLRB said residents in private hospitals were primarily students rather than employees, and could not come under the protection of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRA prohibits unfair retaliation for collective bargaining activities. Residents in public hospitals in many states have unionized.
In 1996, Boston City Hospital merged with a private hospital to create Boston Medical Center, a private facility that allowed residents to continue the union begun at the city hospital. In case later mergers with private institutions threatened the union, the residents asked the NLRB to change its 1976 ruling and grant residents in private hospitals protection under the NLRA. On Nov. 26, the NLRB voted 3-2 in favor of the residents.
In 1998, the National Congress of Family Practice Residents asked the AAFP Board of Directors to endorse residents' right to form associations. The Board did that last July, noting it does not support strikes or withholding services.
"As learners, residents deserve quality education and supervision. As employees, we have the right to safe working conditions," says David Meyers, M.D., of Washington, D.C., resident member of the AAFP Board. "Some family practice residents are concerned about lack of supervision, which is not good for education or patient care. If organizing gets these residents the supervision they need, it helps residents and patients."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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