The Employee Free Choice Act

We believe that resident physicians across the country deserve a fair chance to come together to improve housestaff salaries and working conditions, as well as enhance the quality of patient care in our hospitals. Most of us are lucky enough to be in hospitals where the residents were organized into CIR chapters years before we got there--so you may be wondering why more residents aren't represented by CIR.

Every year, thousands of people, including resident doctors, are denied the freedom to form a union.

Watch this video about the organizing campaign at Yale New Haven Hospital-- and how the Employee Free Choice Act can help.

Over the past several years, CIR has undertaken a number of organizing campaigns. Many chapters were formed, but some efforts failed, despite the overwhelming desire of residents to join CIR. The reason was the opposition of the hospital administration to the residents' choice to join CIR.

Under the current system of labor law, hospitals are able to use a combination of legal and illegal methods to pressure residents who attempt to organize. Residents may be intimidated in subtle and not so subtle ways. Hospitals often try to delay doctors from having a fair and democratic vote on forming a union by making spurious legal arguments about whether residents are students or employees, whether they are an appropriate voting group, and other similar issues. When housestaff do succeed in winning a democratic election, some hospitals try to avoid recognizing their choice by launching legal appeals. Even after hospitals recognize a union, the negotiating process for a first contract can drag on endlessly.

There's a bill before Congress called the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure fairness in organizing. The law would:

• Ensure the rights of housestaff and others to form a union when a majority indicates that they want one.
• Stop bad faith bargaining on the part of the hospital.
• Penalize hospitals who violate the rights of housestaff.

It's time for all doctors to have a choice when it comes to having a voice at their hospital. With your help, we will present the next president and Congress with 1 million signatures urging them to enact the Employee Free Choice Act.

Watch the video, learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act and add your signature.