Rhode Island
Residents, interns at Rhode Island Hospital are first doctors in RI to join a union
The doctors voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, the largest such union in the U.S., with more than 34,000 members
PROVIDENCE – In an effort to increase their pay, improve working conditions and patient care, resident physicians and fellows at Rhode Island Hospital have voted to join a union, making them the first doctors in Rhode Island to unionize.
The vote by secret mail ballot passed, 464-27, doctors who’ve led the effort announced Tuesday night.
The doctors voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents for the purpose of collective bargaining with their employer, Brown University Health, formerly Lifespan. The Committee of Interns and Residents is the largest such union in the country, with more than 34,000 members.
A second group of physicians working mostly in Brown-affiliated programs at Care New England hospitals is also voting on whether to join the union, but those ballots aren’t due until January 14 and won’t be counted until January 15, according to the Committee of Interns and Residents.
Care New England’s Hospital’s include Butler Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, and Kent Hospital.
Doctors in residencies say they regularly work 80 hours a week for first-year pay that can amount to as little as $15 per hour. The combination of demanding schedules and inadequate pay has a ripple effect that challenges their ability to treat patients and weakens the overall health care system, doctors say.
“We’re very proud of the work we do but we’re very much stretched to the breaking point in order to deliver this high-quality care,” said Dr. Felicia Sun, a neurosurgery resident at Rhode Island Hospital. “We’ve known for a long time that unionization is the first step to making our working conditions more humane, so we can continue to give the kind of care we want for the rest of our careers, and I’m so excited for what I expect to be a very positive result.”
The Committee of Interns and Residents has doubled in size since the onset of the pandemic.