Members of the Somerville City Council are voicing their support of unionization efforts by Mass General Brigham primary care physicians. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Harry Kane

A majority of the primary care physicians throughout Mass General Brigham have filed with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize in an effort to maintain the integrity of the profession and improve working conditions, but the arbitration process is taking longer than expected.

At the City Council meeting on January 9, a resolution was put forward to urge officials at Mass General Brigham to stop their delays and come to the bargaining table to recognize a PCP union.

“Mass General Brigham’s decision to fight its own overworked staff’s unionization harms its reputation and, more importantly, harms patient health,” said City Councilor-At-Large Willie Burnley, Jr., in a written statement. “We need to listen to our healthcare workers when they advocate on behalf of our most vulnerable residents and ensure that they are able to provide the best care possible.

“Mass General Brigham has billions of dollars and is the largest employer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They can afford to do better for their patients, their workers, and our community by recognizing the union and negotiating in good faith.”

Some 300 primary care physicians petitioned on November 15 to join the Doctors Council, which is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union that represents the largest union of attending physicians nationwide.

“We stand with workers, we stand with our healthcare providers, particularly against the corporatization of healthcare,” said Councilor Burnley, Jr., at the January 9 meeting.

Forming a union will allow physicians to gain leverage in the healthcare system – part of a growing national trend — and reduce bureaucracy, according to the organizers.

“When this union is recognized … it will be the largest primary care physician union in the state,” said Councilor Burnley, Jr.

Organizers say unionization will lead to higher wages, more resources and benefits, empowering physicians to advocate for themselves and improve conditions in the workforce.

“The folks who take care of us when we are at our lowest have been struggling for many years,” said Councilor Burnley, Jr.

Councilor Burnley, Jr. says that it is a necessity for the institution to bargain in “good faith.”

“It is driving its workers into the ground, because it refuses to pay them well, to give them adequate support, and in doing so, harms the health of our constituents,” said Councilor Burnley, Jr.

Dr. Madhuri Rao, MD is a resident of East Somerville who has lived in Ward 1 since 2021. Rao addressed the city council to advance her argument for the need to unionize.

Rao says she works outside her scheduled hours, staying late to complete tasks, and says he has been pressured to see more patients as a way to generate revenue for the hospital.

“My job, especially in the past years, has become essentially unsustainable,” Rao said.

Rao admits her situation isn’t unique. There’s been a “mass exodus” from primary care physician positions, largely due to “burnout,” she said.

“It’s forced a lot of my colleagues to reduce hours, rendering them part-time employees without benefits, even when they are spending well over 40 hours a week doing their job,” Rao explained.

She says the workload, dwindling providers, the pandemic backlog and the lack of autonomy has made “really good patient care impossible to do.”

Mass General Brigham has not been engaging with the physicians in good faith and they have refused to voluntarily recognize the need for a union, Rao says.

“We feel that we have come to a point of crisis, which has been largely fueled by the corporatization of medicine,” she said.

Due to a pre-election hearing that aims to exclude a majority of the clinics in Mass General Brigham from the bargaining unit, the election has been delayed for several months before the case can be brought before the NLRB, Rao said.