Resident physicians, state senator urge UCD Health to recognize their union

State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo rallied Wednesday alongside physician residents and fellows at the UC Davis Medical Center, urging UCD Health’s leaders to recognize the union that residents voted to represent them: the Committee of Interns and Residents.

“After months of organizing, it is time for UC Davis to formally recognize our union,” said Akilah Monifa, CIR’s senior director of communications. “We stand united for excellent patient care and call on UC Davis Health administration to take the next steps toward contract negotiations.”

Leaders of the UC Davis Medical Center released a statement, saying the university is obligated, under law, to remain neutral until a union is certified by the state to represent an employee group.

“We have been following the process outlined by the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), including posting notices in the workplace regarding SEIU’s request for recognition,” the statement read, in part, “and we have submitted a list of all employees in the proposed unit to PERB. The state must then make a determination about whether the union’s proof of support is sufficient. We are now waiting for PERB’s letter of determination, because the decision to ‘recognize the union’ is not at all up to UC Davis.”

Dr. Debi Thomas, a general surgery resident at UC Davis Health, said she decided to advocate for collective bargaining once she saw the improvements in their quality of life and in the quality of patient care that residents at other hospital systems achieved through their bargaining process.

At other hospital systems where CIR has been formally recognized, residents, interns and fellows have secured funds and bought equipment or products to improve the patient experience. They also have negotiated for funds to help physician trainees with student loans and to make housing affordable.

“One of the strengths a union gives us is actually having a contract that puts in place more robust abilities to negotiate, to advocate, to allocate resources or to have resources of our own that we can allocate to our patients.” Thomas said. “That’s a lot of what we’re asking for, that decisions be made with our knowledge and investment and not come as a surprise thing from on high that happened seemingly without input.”

In the past, UC Davis Health has made decisions to stop providing primary care to the Sacramento region’s Medi-Cal patients. The hospital system’s leaders also have met with criticism from its unions over its plans to partner with Kindred Healthcare to build a new in-patient rehabilitation hospital. The facility, run by Kindred, would not be obligated to use union-represented workers, but UCD Health leaders say they have no plans to lay off any workers as a result of the joint venture.

Through unions, Durazo said, employees can voice their disappointment and concern about issues related to their quality of life and their patients’ quality of care, and they can do so without fear of retribution.

“If something is not being done right, they have the opportunity through a collective voice to speak up to management – whether it’s their own working conditions or whether it’s the patients’ conditions,” said Durazo, a longtime labor organizer. “Without collective strength, without collective representation, it is very difficult for a working person to speak out. They’re afraid of retaliation. They’re afraid of getting fired. They’re afraid of getting their salaries cut. They’re afraid of not getting promotions.”

Dr. Arunima Kohli, a second-year family practice resident, said her work puts her in contact with health care workers all around UC Davis health – from the intensive care unit to the pathology lab, from the operating rooms to the emergency department, from the radiology reading rooms to the labor and delivery suites.

Representation through CIR, she said, is an opportunity to improve care for both patients and physician trainees.

“Right now, we have advisory committees and things like that, but the resident voice isn’t binding and commitments made aren’t necessarily binding,” Kohli said. “One of the strengths a union gives us is actually having a contract that puts in place more robust abilities to negotiate, to advocate, to allocate resources or to have resources of our own that we can allocate to our patients.”

Kim Carter Martinez, CIR director for Northern California, told The Bee last month organizers had submitted enough signatures to PERB to be certified to represent fellows and residents at UC Davis Health. PERB recently certified CIR, a unit of the Service Employees International Union, to represent residents, fellows and interns practicing at all UCLA and UC San Francisco medical facilities.

CIR represents more than 15,000 providers nationwide, 6,000 of them at Oakland’s Highland Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and a half-dozen other hospitals around California. At Highland, CIR’s oldest unit in the state, the union has represented physicians and surgeons in training since 1999.

This story was originally published May 1, 2019 at 7:23 PM.