Hey mwiess, hungry? here is some crow:
L.A. doctors unionize in historic victory
By Evelina Alarcon
LOS ANGELES - More than 800 Los Angeles County doctors made history last week by becoming the largest group of physicians in the country to unionize in 20 years.
In a whopping victory, nearly two-thirds of voting doctors cast their ballot for the union. This was a tremendous accomplishment in what has been considered one of the most difficult areas to organize.
"We are ecstatic about the results! " said Joe Bader, regional administrator for the Union of American Physicians and Dentists to the World. "This is the largest group of non residents to join the union ... these are doctors with academic appointments who are now identified with other workers."
Bader who helped lead the three year effort, pointed out that there has been a dramatic change in the attitude of doctors over the last 10 years.
"Doctors now see themselves as workers who can better serve their profession and their patients by being in a union!" said Bader. "This is the only way to get their voices heard!"
These doctors serve L.A.'s massive health care system, which provides service to nearly three million uninsured patients and runs the county's largest trauma centers.
In 1995, Los Angeles County laid off doctors for the first time and cutbacks in health care have continued ever since. Doctors have little input to the county on crucial issues regarding its health policies regarding patient care, lack of job security and deteriorating working conditions. This is what has spurred on the unionization drive.
During the organizing campaign, the county proposed to consolidate laboratory services and to allow the contracting out of physician services - decisions that were strongly opposed by the union.
"This is a great day not just for doctors but for patients!" said union president Dr. Robert Weinmann at a press conference held by the UAPD in front of County-University of Southern California Medical Center on May 28. "With union representation, doctors can now concentrate on health care and what's best for patients. Patients can rest easy. "
A key organizer in the union drive, Dan Lawlor, M.D., added another benefit of the victory by pointing out that this election "puts the union at the forefront of quality teaching and research - a vital factor in this nation's great medical tradition."
The doctors unionized include some 550 university teaching physicians and about 240 doctors working in the county's public health clinics, children's and AIDS services plus the sheriff's and coroner's offices. In addition to being employed by the County, these physicians work for the area 's three medical schools - UCLA, USC and Charles Drew.
The medical university teaching physicians are the largest group of its kind ever to vote on joining a physicians union.
This success is a huge milestone for labor who are battling privatization and cutbacks in health care. When added to the recent victory of over 80,000 home care workers in Los Angeles, the labor movement in the nation's largest County is making record breaking strides in organizing the e health care industry.
Bader predicted to the World that this victory would motivate doctors to join the union nationwide. Lawlor said that the "impetus is already spilling over into the East Coast where next month it will involve an election for 500 teaching physicians and scientists at the University of Connecticut in Hartford."
The physicians union is an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). This successful drive makes AFSCME the national leader in doctor unionization.
"Millions of Americans rely on public hospitals for high quality care, and they will greet this union vote as a great victory!" said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.
"Los Angeles County residents now have powerful advocates for the right treatment, high quality treatment, in a timely manner."
More:
Medalia doctors unionize
by The Associated Press
Doctors at Medalia HealthCare have voted 104-75 to join the United Salaried Physicians and Dentists Union, the union announced yesterday.
"We need to have a voice in Medalia and how we take care of our patients," said Dr. Dag Vandermeer, a member of the Northwest Physicians Alliance organizing committee.
Unhappy over a lack of decision-making control, increasing patient loads and unstable salaries, doctors had requested a union election last December but met objections from Medalia, a network of clinics co-owned by the Providence and Franciscan health systems.
The doctors' vote places them in the USPD, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union of 1 million members, including 600,000 health-care employees. The SEIU counts 15,000 salaried physicians as members.
Organizers claimed the election was a first for private physicians in the Northwest.
The election was conducted and votes were counted by the Seattle office of the National Labor Relations Board.
Medalia officials couldn't be reached for comment last night.
"This is part of a growing national trend," said Jeff Rugg, organizing director of the doctors union. "Physicians want to protect quality of care and the doctor-patient relationship. More and more doctors employed by large health-care corporations are turning to USPD."
A total of 229 ballots were sent to nonmanagement physicians at Medalia, a network of 46 primary-care clinics in Western Washington.
Some of the doctors had petitioned the NLRB in December for an election, but Medalia objected.
After six weeks of hearings, the board rejected Medalia's arguments that virtually all of its physicians are supervisors and managers - positions not covered by the National Labor Relations Act - and therefore could not be certified to join a union.
In recent months, many physicians and other staff have left Medalia out of frustration with administrative policies, the union said.
"Doctors are so frustrated by what managed-care plans are doing to them," said Tom Curry, head of the Washington State Medical Association. "I've never seen physicians so frustrated."
According to the American Medical Association in Chicago, there are already between 14,000 and 20,000 doctors represented by various unions - a tiny fraction of the 720,000 practicing physicians in the country.
"But it really is the trend," said Wendy Morphew, spokeswoman for the AMA.
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/health/pd062499b.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-...tors_6-24a.html