Housestaff Union at UCDMC



News

What It's All About

The residents at UCDMC are forming a union.

Actually, we've had a union since before I was an intern back in 1996, but it has been largely inactive. A number of recent events have engendered new interest in a housestaff union, most notably the draconian reduction in residents' meal benefits and the unilateral decision to drastically reduce health benefits by switching residents to WHA, a UCDMC owned and operated HMO.

Shortly thereafter, the California Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) came to the startling conclusion that housestaff are employees who actually do some work, and aren't simply students receiving dispensed wisdom from clinical professors. That decision cleared the way for a union to represent us in collective bargaining with the Health System.

Me? I'm just a PGY-IV resident here in the combined psychiatry/family practice program. I became interested in the union after I observed several tragic events in which my patients and my colleagues were mistreated by the Health System. When I tried to change things, I discovered that I had no voice and no protection. I don't see the union as a panacea, but I don't see the Health System changing their ways without some organized pressure. I created this site, independent of both CAIR/CIR and the Health System, in order to help answer a lot of the questions my friends and colleagues have about a housestaff union.

More Information

Resources at risley.net

I have prepared a list of answers to frequently asked questions about the housestaff union. I plan to update it frequently based on questions and comments I receive on union-list (see below).

To take part (or just listen in) to an ongoing discussion of issues surrounding the UCDMC housestaff union, join union-list, an electronic mail discussion list. Union-list will also feature periodic posting of the Housestaff Union FAQ (see above), and important announcements about upcoming meetings and events. You can join by sending any email to <union-list-on@risley.net> or via the Web by using my subscription page.

The Union's Perspective

The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) has a website at cirdocs.org. Be sure to check out their brief history of housestaff unions.

The California Association of Interns and Residents (CAIR) is the California affiliate of CIR. They can be reached at 916.456.6266 or by email at <cair@cirdocs.org>.

Other Docs You Can Talk To

Denise Greene is another FP/Psych resident here who knows a lot more about the union than I do. You can email her at <dgreene1@juno.com>.

Andrea Cervenka is a classmate of mine from medical school at UC San Diego. She graduated from an internal medicine residency last year, and is now Northern California regional vice president of CIR. She can be reached at <acervenka@yahoo.com>. Date created: December 27, 1999
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Copyright © 1999-2000 Ron Risley