Thursday, January 11, 2007

County doctors hope to unionize

January 9, 2007
BY LORI RACKL Health Reporter
Nearly 600 doctors in the Cook County health system will announce today their plan to form a union -- a move they hope will give them a stronger voice as county officials prepare to wield the budget ax.

Representatives for physicians at Stroger Hospital, Cook County Jail and a network of county health clinics filed petitions Friday with the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The doctors want to join a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, the nation's largest health care workers union.

"There are significant changes headed for our workplace, and we have no collective voice," said Dr. Peter Orris, a Stroger Hospital physician and member of the organizing committee.

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