L.A. County Docs Say, ‘AFSCME, Yes!’
LOS ANGELES
In a landmark election that could spur unionizing of physicians across the country, a group of doctors in Los Angeles County voted nearly two-to-one in May to join the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, an AFSCME affiliate.
The May 28 election to represent nearly 800 doctors — about 550 university teaching physicians and some 240 who work for the county — is being hailed as the largest union election for post-residency physicians in 18 years.
Capping a three-year organizing drive, 523 doctors working for the county and three area medical schools — the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science — cast valid ballots.
The final tally was 341-182 in favor of AFSCME representation.
“This victory is great news for the millions of Americans who rely on public hospitals for high quality care,” says AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee. “Working together, these physicians are significantly stronger. Los Angeles County residents now have powerful advocates for the right treatment — high quality treatment — in a timely manner.”
Joe Bader, regional administrator for UAPD, said he expects their well-publicized victory to spark unionizing efforts nationwide. Phone calls and e-mail have been pouring in to UAPD since the election.
“We’re getting calls from all over creation now,” said John Santoscoy, UAPD representative in Los Angeles.
The election boosted UAPD’s membership to 6,000, making it the largest union of post-residency physicians in the country. UAPD affiliated with AFSCME in 1997.
Belinda Wu, M.D., a pediatrician at the H. Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center, said she and her co-workers were fired up to gain union representation after management ultimatums threatened their ability to provide quality patient care.
Wu and some co-workers filed a grievance, to no avail. “Physicians do not have bargaining power because they don’t have a union,” Wu said they were told. “We decided it was time to join a union.”
