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House staff at Mass General Brigham in Boston voted to unionize following continued efforts to do so despite receiving a significant salary increase this year.

Residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham voted in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election earlier this week to join the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR-SEIU), with 75% in favor of representation.

More than 2,400 residents and fellows will be represented by the union, CIR-SEIU stated in an , which must still be certified by the NLRB.

"This campaign was not only historic, it was difficult," said Sarah Brown, MD, an internal medicine resident at Mass General Brigham's flagship institution, Massachusetts General Hospital, in a statement. "The incredible rise in residents and fellows organizing is not a surprise to us. We've seen how much and how often house staff have had to fight to advocate for what we need to both provide for ourselves and our families, and what we need to be the best that we can for our patients."

Hannah Abrams, MD, who is completing an internal medicine residency at Mass General Brigham this week, told MedPage Today that the campaign to unionize has been an effort spanning years. Abrams felt "gratified" following the vote, and hoped that it will help to ensure a better experience for future house staff there.

Specific areas of interest Abrams said colleagues have discussed include the cost of living in Boston, child care and fertility planning, and the establishment of a fair grievance process to help trainees who may have experienced incidences in the workplace or harassment.

In March, Mass General Brigham to include a 10% salary increase for all residents and clinical fellows, as well as an increased annual stipend of $10,000.

But soon after, CIR-SEIU confirmed the house staff's petition for union status had been filed with the NLRB, which followed Mass General Brigham declining their initial request. The back-and-forth between house staff and Mass General Brigham marked the latest such instance amid a flurry of renewed interest by residents and fellows looking to unionize across the U.S.

The CIR-SEIU said Mass General Brigham now marks the 12th residency program to join the union since 2019 and that nearly 10,000 resident physicians have joined the union in the past year.

"It was really incredible to hear from CIR the week that we went public with our campaign...CIR had a big uptick in inquiries from residency programs across the country," Abrams said. "I do really think that this is a way that house staff across the country are beginning to understand that we too deserve workplace protections."

For its part, Mass General Brigham also acknowledged similar efforts taking place at a bevy of other institutions nationwide in responding to this week's NLRB election.

"As an organization dedicated to training the next great generation of caregivers, we are proud of the education that we provide to our residents and fellows, and we recognize the vital importance of the unique partnership between faculty and trainees in our institutions," Paul Anderson, MD, PhD, interim chief academic officer at Mass General Brigham, said in a statement provided to MedPage Today. "While we are disappointed with the outcome, this election is part of a continuing national trend among medical trainees seeking collective bargaining through union representation."

"Moving forward, our mission remains unchanged," Anderson added. "We will continue to deliver on our promise of providing a world-class medical education experience, working within the parameters that will be established by the collective bargaining process."

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