Hundreds of physicians along with approximately 150 nurse practitioners and physician assistants caring for patients in the Allina Health system have voted in favor of unionizing. Allina Health told an ABC News affiliate on Sunday that it will agree to recognize the new union. Once the union is officially certified, it will represent what could be the largest private sector physician’s union in the country. This decision follows the clinical teams’ concerns over issues such as staffing, burnout, heavy administrative workloads, and care quality. The 50 Allina clinics in Minnesota and western Wisconsin include both primary care and urgent care locations.
Could this be a forecast for the future? Across the country, new unions are taking shape not just in healthcare but even among worker groups you might not expect, such as the Starbucks baristas who foam your latte every morning. As urgent care’s workforce shifts from primarily emergency physicians to physician assistants and nurse practitioners, unionization could become a trend in certain pockets of the US. Read more about the complexity of union rules in urgent care from the JUCM archive: Can PAs And NPs Unionize In Urgent Care Settings?