Union for nearly 1,000 U of M resident physicians certified by state

Nearly 1,000 resident physicians at the University of Minnesota are officially unionized with SEIU Committee of Interns and Residents after a state labor board certified on Friday that a majority of residents signed union cards.

The certification comes on the heels of more than 200 resident physicians at Hennepin Healthcare achieving certification last month as the first union of resident physicians in Minnesota.

“We work very hard to take care of people all over the Twin Cities and beyond, and burnout is a real problem,” said Dr. Kaitlin McLean in a statement released by the union. “It’s essential that we have a seat at the table so we can care for ourselves and our patients, and so that we can stay here in Minnesota doing that critical work.”

The union drives at both Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota were remarkably fast compared to the private sector because of a recent change in state law, which governs public sector employees.

Under a 2023 law passed by the then-DFL-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services will certify a union without a secret mail ballot election if the agency can verify a majority of the bargaining unit has signed cards in support of the union. The Legislature also made it easier for University of Minnesota employees to unionize in 2024.

In the private sector, workers often must vote in an election after filing a petition with federal labor regulators.

While physicians can look forward to highly paid jobs in medicine, their four or so years of residency after medical school in which they work under the supervision of an attending physician is defined by low pay, crushing workloads and little power to negotiate.

University of Minnesota resident physicians regularly work 80 hours a week for as little as $16 an hour. Resident physicians note they have little power over their pay or working conditions because of the national process through which newly minted doctors match with residency programs.

A spokesperson for the university shared a statement saying it had received notice of the union certification from the Bureau of Mediation Services and that it “honors its obligations under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act.”

It’s still rare for doctors — traditionally the most privileged and valued of hospital staff — to pursue collective bargaining to improve their wages and conditions.

But the consolidation of health care is making doctors increasingly feel more like workers on assembly lines than masters of their own practices.

In 2023, more than 550 primary and urgent care clinicians — including doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners — across dozens of Allina Health facilities voted to form what was then the nation’s largest private-sector union of advanced health care providers. Just a few months later, the union of more than 130 Allina Health doctors at Mercy and Unity hospitals was certified over the health system’s objections.

SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents, which represents more than 37,000 doctors nationwide, says it’s one of the fastest growing health care unions in the country, doubling in size since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The union won six elections with 250 or more workers across the country in January 2025 alone.