UMass Chan Medical School resident and fellow physicians ratify union contract

WORCESTER — Resident physicians and physicians in fellowship programs at UMass Chan Medical School overwhelmingly approved their first union contract after forming a union last year.

The Committee of Interns and Residents and UMass Chan Medical School leadership announced Monday that 99% of voting members approved the contract.

“Our new contract will make a huge difference in our lives and honor our work caring for patients, the people in central Mass. who need health care the most,” said Dr. Alexander Lichtenberg, a fourth-year resident in neuropsychiatry.

In March of 2021, the union represented 613 residents and fellows at UMass — the residents and fellows are employees of UMass Medical School but work at UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Organizing efforts began before the pandemic in 2019 over concerns around how programs were functioning and their impacts on physician safety, working conditions and patient care.

The Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations certified the UMass union as a branch of the Committee of Interns and Residents/Service Employees International Union in March of 2021. A lengthy bargaining process with hospital leadership started in October of the same year.

The contract includes an 11% salary increase over three years, four weeks of paid annual vacation, a minimum $1,000 annual education allowance, supplemental major medical insurance and protective equipment guarantees.

“Our more than 600 residents and fellows are an integral part of our academic health sciences center who, every day, play an important role in the care of patients and in educating medical students while developing expertise in their chosen specialty,” Deborah DeMarco, associate dean for Graduate Medical Education at UMass Chan, said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: UMass Chan Medical School resident and fellow physicians ratify union contract