While unionization among healthcare workers and non-physician providers is a familiar phenomenon, resident physicians and fellows joining unions has only grown in recent years.
“Physician unionization has massively increased since 2020, especially among interns and residents,” Rebecca Givan, PhD, associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J., told Becker’s. “This reflects the specific strains put on healthcare workers during the pandemic and the widespread interest in unionization among young professional workers across numerous industries.”
Here are five unionization efforts involving resident and fellow physicians so far in 2026, as reported by Becker’s:
1. Hospitalists with Swedish Medical Group voted to join Northwest Medicine United, AFT Local 6552, becoming the first physicians in the Renton, Wash.-based Providence system to unionize in the state.
2. Primary care providers at Cleveland-based MetroHealth are taking steps to unionize with AFSCME Ohio Council 8. Organizers said April 14 that the proposed bargaining unit would include MetroHealth physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses.
3. A supermajority of nearly 150 resident physicians at Visalia, Calif.-based Kaweah Delta Health Care District filed a petition for union recognition April 9. The group is the first resident physicians in their county to unionize. It is the largest physicians’ union in the country and would be the first at Kaewah Health.
4. Nearly 40 Massachusetts lawmakers urged Mass General Brigham, based in Somerville, Mass., to recognize a union of primary care physicians and begin contract negotiations. A letter signed by 38 legislators called on the health system to drop its legal challenge to the bargaining unit and move forward with collective bargaining after physicians voted 183-26 in May to unionize.
5. Primary and urgent care providers represented by the Doctors Council Service Employees International Union reached a tentative agreement with Minneapolis-based Allina Health.
The three-year agreement covers more than 600 Allina physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners and comes more than two years after negotiations began. It follows a one-day strike in November, according to an April 2 union news release shared with Becker’s.
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