Hospital physicians at Legacy Health likely to unionize

Dr. Eric Seymour, 40, grew up “poor and progressive” in Mississippi and that attuned him to the power of unions to improve working conditions. But neither his life experience nor his pro-labor leanings are common among doctors, he said.

“Doctors in general are a pretty privileged class and profession,” he said while sitting at a favorite coffee shop in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland. “We collectively believe we have a little more leverage and autonomy at work.”

Nevertheless, Seymour and nearly 200 of his colleagues at the eight Legacy Health System hospitals in Oregon are on the brink of formalizing the realization that they don’t have quite as much autonomy as they’d like. After counting votes on Friday morning, organizers expect to announce the formation of the newest hospitalists union in the country…

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Photo Credit: Lillian Mongeau Hughes