Anesthesiologists with Beverly Anesthesiology and Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles have formed a union, part of a continued wave of physician unionization in the U.S.
About 75% of the anesthesiology group’s voters were in favor of joining the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) during a 2-day vote in mid-January. Among a total of 139 eligible voters, 103 cast their ballot, and 78 voted to unionize, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
“A lot of people felt we really had no leverage in this relationship” with the hospital, Gene Lee, MD, a member of the organizing committee, told MedPage Today. Beverly Anesthesiology is owned by Cedars-Sinai; they are joint employers of the doctors.
Lee and Ellis Lai, MD, another member of the organizing committee, pointed to burnout, understaffing, concerns about the quality of patient care, a heavy workload, not being able to take time off, and not replacing doctors who left as some of the key reasons for setting up a union.