Comment on Arizona doctors vote to form state’s first physicians’ union
Dogyote@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
I’m generally extremely pro-union, but there are some exceptions, such as police unions. I’m concerned about the power a doctors union could weild. Something happened in South Korea that’s relevant. Doctors, or at least trainee doctors, in South Korea, went on strike in protest of the government increasing admission numbers to Korean medical schools. It sounded to me like they were protesting the training of more doctors than the norm, which doesn’t sound like a decent thing to protest imo.
I think this is a fair concern. Doctors already have high bargaining power compared to other workers, especially in the US where the number of doctors is artificially restricted.
That’s not to say I think they should be denied the right to unionize but my support is a little more subdued compared to workers at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
ruuster13@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
This type of uncorrelated extrapolation suggests you are not extremely pro-union
Dogyote@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
I guess it’s fair to discount my Korea example, that was a mass resignation aimed at government admissions policy, not a union bargaining with an employer. However I still think their is a similar undercurrent and I still worry a physicians’ union would have more power than most other unions.
My concern is what stops a physicians’ union from bargaining over things beyond improving their working conditions? For example physicans in Korea were opposed to a policy that will likely be beneficial to their society and collectively acted in protest. That’s what makes police unions my pro-union exception. It’s not their pay, but contract terms covering discipline and internal investigations. If a Banner contract stayed on pay, panel size and staffing ratios, I have no problem with it, but what keeps those limits?
Does anyone know what’s on their bargaining agenda?