A supermajority of the nearly 1,000 resident physicians and fellows at the University of Minnesota filed to unionize in one of the largest union drives in the state in recent years, SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents union announced on Monday.
The move comes on the heels of more than 200 resident physicians at Hennepin Healthcare becoming the first to file to unionize in Minnesota earlier this month as part of a surge in organizing among young doctors in their final years of training. They say they are organizing in the face of brutally long days and relatively low pay.
SEIU’s Committee of Interns and Residents, which represents more than 37,000 doctors nationwide, says it’s one of the fastest growing health care unions, doubling in size since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The union won six elections with 250 or more workers across the country in January 2025 alone.
Resident physicians complain of unsustainable working conditions, often putting in grueling 80-hour weeks and taking home what amounts to about the city of Minneapolis’ minimum hourly wage of $15.97.
“We went into medicine because we want to take care of people, but at the heart of it, we just don’t think that great patient care should have to come at the expense of our well-being,” said Dr. Sofia Haile, a family medicine resident, in a statement.
The union effort is possible because of a 2024 law passed by state Democrats that allows more University of Minnesota employees to organize. Previously, state law had made organizing difficult because it circumscribed 13 possible bargaining units with two sprawling groups that lumped together instructors, event planners, and even the athletic director (whose salary is $1.4 million a year).
Under state law, the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services will certify the union without an election if the agency is able to verify a majority of the bargaining unit has signed in support of the union. The process is simpler than in the private sector, where workers must usually vote in an election after filing a petition with federal labor regulators.
A spokesman for the university acknowledged receipt of the petition in an email to the Reformer.
“The University recognizes the process for organization and petition, and will be responsive to both the BMS and SEIU,” the statement said. “The University values our relationship with labor-represented employees and honors its obligations under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA).”
The union drive comes as uncertainty looms over the future ownership of the University of Minnesota teaching hospital, the state’s largest. The hospital facilities are owned by Fairview Health Services, which sought to merge with South Dakota-based Sanford Health in 2023 until negotiations collapsed under the weight of public opposition from Minnesota leaders.
Last week, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced he would pick a “strategic facilitator” in negotiations between the University of Minnesota, Duluth-based Essentia Health and Fairview over a potential deal that would create a new nonprofit health system and support the university’s academic medical training programs.
