Join us for a discussion regarding the history of residency unionization. These podcast episodes are meant to follow up on our AAEM/RSA Resident Labor Rights panel discussion which took place live in New Orleans at Scientific Assembly and will be posted later. Please keep your eyes out for that recoding to hear us discuss the basics of what a union is and its pros and cons. This three-part podcast series will build on those initial conversations.
Here with us today is Dr. Michael Losak
Dr. Losak is a practicing emergency physician and currently an assistant professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. While he was a resident at the University of California, San Francisco, he led the organizing committee that successfully won a new housestaff union there in 2017. This union, a chapter of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), was the largest new public sector union in California that year and also thought to be the largest new physician union in American history at the time of its founding. He was subsequently elected to the national board of CIR, served as a member of the negotiating committee for the resident contracts at both UCSF and San Francisco General, and helped a number of other California housestaff with their successful organizing campaigns. Since finishing residency, he has stayed involved with the healthcare labor space through writing, advising housestaff organizing committees, and engaging in local politics.
Please feel free to reach out through info@aaemrsa.org with any questions regarding unionization efforts or for our guest speakers.