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Resident physicians at the University of Minnesota filed for union recognition Monday. 

Organizers say a supermajority of the university’s group of nearly 1,000 residents and fellows voted in favor of unionizing. 

In their announcement Monday, residents said they want to address long hours, hard working conditions and low pay.

Dr. Mayrose Porter is a resident OB-GYN at the University of Minnesota. She said she’s struggled with understaffed shifts and low pay. On some of her late-night shifts, she said, the only food she has access to is a vending machine.

“There's no way to get around the fact that medicine is difficult… and that involves difficult training,” Porter said. “However, I think that there's a lot of spaces within that that don't need to be as difficult as they are.” 

The residents would join SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents. Earlier this month, 200 Hennepin Health residents announced their intent to join the same union.

Organizers say many residents make around Minneapolis’ minimum wage: $15.97 an hour. They can work up to 80 hours a week. 

Porter said the residency system doesn’t give doctors much room to advocate for better conditions. Since residents are assigned positions, they don’t get to compare pay, benefits and locations like employees or students in other fields can. 

“You really don't have any bargaining power,” Porter said. “I love working for the University of Minnesota, I was so happy to match here. And I can also recognize that there are other places that had better benefits, that had better pay, that had better quality of life aspects.”

She says unionizing could create a place to bring up concerns about work.

Residents are able to unionize following changes to Minnesota’s Public Employment Labor Relations Act in 2024, which adjusted bargaining units across the University of Minnesota.

The next step is for the state’s Bureau of Mediation Services to recognize the union. A U of M spokesperson said in a statement that the administration will be in touch with the organizers and the bureau. 

“The University values our relationship with labor-represented employees and honors its obligations under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act,” the statement said.

Organizers say they want U of M administrators and President Rebecca Cunningham to start contract negotiations as soon as possible. 

Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Author

Resident physicians at the University of Minnesota filed for union recognition Monday. A majority of the school’s 1,000 residents voted to unionize.

University of Minnesota resident physicians announce intent to unionize

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