Committee of Interns and Residents
The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) is the largest union of resident and fellow physicians (collectively referred to as "housestaff") in the United States, representing more than 30,000 interns, residents, and fellows in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Washington, D.C. CIR contracts seek to improve housestaff salaries and working conditions as well as enhance the quality of patient care.
| Abbreviation | CIR/SEIU Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1957 |
| Type | labor union, professional organization |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
Region served | CA, FL, ID, IL, MA, NM, NY, NJ, PA, VT, WA, Washington, D.C. |
Membership | 30,000+ interns, residents and fellows |
President | Lorenzo Antonio Gonzalez, MD |
| Affiliations | Service Employees International Union |
| Website | http://www.cirseiu.org |
History
CIR was founded in 1957 by residents in New York's public hospital system.[1]
In a landmark achievement in 1975, CIR won contractual limits for on-call schedules of one night in three. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, CIR successfully negotiated innovative maternity leave clauses, won provisions for pay for housestaff covering for absent colleagues, and in 1989 helped shape New York State's regulations that set maximum work hour limits for housestaff.[2] Since then, CIR members have negotiated hours limitations and program security clauses in Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston.
In May 1997, CIR affiliated with the two-million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents over one million healthcare workers across the country.[1]
In the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 academic years, CIR's membership increased from 17,000 to over 30,000 represented physicians, over 20% of the total of nearly 150,000 residents and fellows in the U.S.[3] In a historic union wave,[4][5][6][7] residents and fellows won high-profile union elections at academic teaching institutions such as Mass General Brigham,[8] University of Pennsylvania,[9] Stanford Health Care,[10] and George Washington University. [11]
References
- "Our History". Committee of Interns and Residents. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- "What Does Labor Day Hav... - Blogs - Revolution Health". Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
- "2022 Report on Residents Executive Summary". AAMC. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- Sainato, Michael (2023-04-27). "'More than half of my paycheck goes to rent': young US doctors push to unionize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- Yu, Alan (2023-04-12). "80-hour weeks and roaches near your cot? More medical residents unionize". NPR. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- Mosbergen, Dominique (2023-01-16). "Medical Residents Unionize Over Pay, Working Conditions". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- Press, Eyal (2023-06-15). "The Moral Crisis of America's Doctors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- Bustillos, Esteban (2023-06-08). "Mass General Brigham medical residents, fellows vote to unionize". News. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- "In unionization push, Penn Medicine residents are demanding better working conditions". WHYY. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- "Stanford Health Care Residents and Fellows Vote 'Yes' to Union". www.medpagetoday.com. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- "George Washington University Medical Residents Vote To Unionize". www.dcist.com. 2023-04-27. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
Further reading
- Ludmerer, Kenneth M. Time to heal: American medical education from the turn of the century to the era of managed care. Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Mullan, Fitzhugh. White Coat, Clenched Fist: The Political Education of an American Physician. University of Michigan Press, 2006.
- Peterkin, Allen. Staying human during residency training: how to survive and thrive after medical school. University of Toronto Press, 2008.
- Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Optimizing Graduate Medical Trainee (Resident) Hours and Work Schedules to Improve Patient Safety. Resident duty hours: enhancing sleep, supervision, and safety (Google eBook).