Strengthening Care for Those Who Need Us Most
Physicians across the University of California are coming together to unionize—because our patients deserve a system that lets us fight for them.
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A Note from UAPD President Dr. Stuart Bussey, M.D., J.D.
Stuart Bussey, MD, JD (UCI Family Residency Graduate)
President, Union of American Physicians and Dentists
Questions? Contact:
Pierre King, UAPD Director of Organizing, pking@uapd.com, (707) 515-0574
“Executives make decisions that harm patients, but it’s the doctors, our licenses, that are held accountable.”
UC Physician
Our Concerns
Workloads keep increasing while paychecks don't.
When a colleague leaves, their patients become your patients. They’re added to your panel, your inbox fills up, and the work spills into your nights and weekends. That extra time doesn’t show up in your compensation. The workload has quietly shifted, and no one called a meeting to discuss your new burden. More work for less pay.
The administrators making clinical decisions aren't seeing patients.
Scheduling, staffing ratios, EHR changes, scope of practice. These policies shape every hour of your day. Yet the people who set the rules aren’t the ones caring for patients. A union exists to close this gap.
No representation in the room when it matters.
Policy rolls out. Staffing shifts. You find out through an email, after it’s already in effect. That’s not oversight. It’s a structural problem. Physicians deserve a seat at the table before the decisions get made, not after.
It takes a collective to solve systemic issues.
By organizing a union with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), the UC Office of the President cannot ignore the voices of 10,000 physicians.
What’s in a Contract
What UAPD members typically negotiate
Every contract is different. Bargaining teams choose their own priorities. These are the provisions UAPD contracts commonly include.
Compensation Structure in Writing
Published formulas, transparent adjustments, and contractual raises on a defined cadence. No more unilateral changes or opaque incentive plans. Where existing compensation exists, UAPD typically works to grandfather it and bring others up, not the other way around.
Joint Labor-Management Committees
Regular, binding forums where physicians and management work through staffing, schedules, inbox, and admin-time questions, with real authority, not advisory status.
Fair Productivity Metrics
Physician-led audit rights over how RVUs, panel size, and bonus formulas are calculated. Metrics you can see, verify, and contest.
CME & Professional Development
Guaranteed days and dollars. For example, UAPD’s New Mexico FQHC contract delivers 5 days and $5,000 per year, protected from budget cycles.
Just Cause & Professional Judgment
“Just cause” means you can only be disciplined or terminated for a documented, contractual reason. A professional-judgment clause protects you when advocating for patients.
Grievance & Arbitration
A defined, confidential process for resolving disputes, ending in neutral arbitration if needed. Your complaint can’t be ignored.
UAPD members negotiate and ratify their own contracts.
To see what specific bargaining units have negotiated, visit uapd.com/member-landing.
Your Rights
What the Law Protects
UC employees are public-sector workers in California. Your right to organize is protected by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), administered by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
Rights that apply right now, before any petition is filed
- You have the right to discuss union representation with colleagues on breaks, at meals, and before or after shifts.
- You have the right to sign (or not sign) a union authorization card. Cards are confidential and held by the labor board.
- UC is barred from retaliating against you for organizing activity, including threats, discipline, or schedule changes tied to your participation.
- You have the right to attend union meetings on your own time.
- You have the right to decline to answer management questions about union activity.
- If a representation election occurs, your vote is confidential. No one, union or management, sees how you voted.
Key Protection
HEERA Section 3571.1: Protected Rights of UC Employees
HEERA Section 3565 guarantees UC employees the right to “form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations” of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on matters of employer-employee relations.
HEERA Section 3571.1 makes it unlawful for UC to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of those rights, or to retaliate against an employee for engaging in lawful organizing activity. Violations are addressed through unfair-practice charges filed with PERB.
If you believe you’ve experienced retaliation for organizing activity, document what happened and contact us immediately. UAPD’s labor counsel, David Rosenfeld, will walk you through your options
Weingarten Rights: After the Union is Certified
Weingarten rights let a represented employee have union representation present during an investigatory meeting with a supervisor that could lead to discipline. They originate in the 1975 Supreme Court case NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc. and have been extended to California public-sector employees through PERB precedent. They attach the moment the union is certified following a majority vote.
At the moment, UC providers in this organizing effort are pre-certification. Weingarten will become available to your unit after a successful representation election. Until then, if you’re called into an investigatory meeting and aren’t sure what to do, reach out through the contact form and a UAPD organizer will walk you through it.
Strikes are rare, and the decision is always yours
Many providers want to know where a strike fits into all of this. The honest answer: strikes are rare, and in UAPD’s 50-plus years representing physicians and dentists, the record is bargaining, not striking. Almost every contract is reached at the table. A strike is a last resort, used only after other avenues, good-faith bargaining and the grievance process among them, have been exhausted.
Just as important: a strike is never imposed on you by “the union.” It can only happen if the providers in the unit vote to authorize one. Neither UAPD staff nor AFSCME can call a strike for you. And because healthcare is different, any job action comes with advance notice and patient-coverage arrangements so that patient care continues. It is not patient abandonment.
Finally, the reason any of this exists is patient care. The issues that move providers to organize, safe staffing, enough time with each patient, functioning facilities, and the freedom to practice on your own clinical judgment, are the same issues that determine whether patients get the care they deserve. The contract is how providers secure them.
The Bottom Line
Only the physicians in the unit can vote to authorize a strike
No one can call a strike on your behalf, not UAPD staff, not AFSCME, not anyone outside your unit. If a strike is ever on the table, it is because the physicians themselves, through a vote, decided it was the last remaining way to protect their patients and their profession. The choice is always in your hands.
MEET UAPD’S LABOR COUNSEL
David Rosenfeld has practiced union-side labor law since graduating from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1973, and is a named shareholder at Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, California’s largest labor-law firm representing unions and working people. His practice spans collective bargaining, public-sector labor relations, and organizing campaigns; he taught labor law at Berkeley Law for many years.
Reach him directly at drosenfeld@unioncounsel.net, or read his full firm bio.
Stay Ready
The pushback you’ll hear, and why it doesn’t hold
Employers run the same anti-union campaign against organizing drives everywhere. Here are the four arguments you’re most likely to hear at your campus, and what each one leaves out. Recognizing the pattern in advance is most of what makes it ineffective.
What They'll Say
“A union is a third party in the workplace. Outsiders shouldn’t decide how we practice.”
Reality
Members are the union. UAPD is provider-led: bargaining priorities, contract language, and ratification are all voted on by UC providers themselves. The only “outsiders” in the room are the lawyers and consultants management hires when a campaign starts.
What They'll Say
“Dues are too expensive. You’ll lose more than you’d gain.”
Reality
UAPD dues are 0.9% of gross salary, and take effect after a contract is ratified. $0 during the organizing drive. Union members typically earn 10% to 20% more than non-unionized peers. The contract pays for itself many times over.
What They'll Say
“You’ll lose your direct relationship with management. Everything will go through the union.”
Reality
A contract adds structured access (Joint Labor-Management Committees, defined grievance procedures) on top of the informal channels you already use. Nothing in HEERA or in any UAPD contract bars you from talking to your supervisor. Represented providers get the same conversations everyone else does, plus an enforceable seat at the table when policy changes.
What They'll Say
“A strike could hurt patients. Are you really willing to walk out on your patients?”
Reality
Strikes are a last resort, and rare in UAPD’s 50-plus years of representing physicians and dentists. The union’s record is bargaining, not striking. When job actions do happen in healthcare, they are governed by essential-services agreements that keep patient care covered. The framing also reverses cause and effect: understaffing and burnout hurt patients, and the contract is the tool to fix that.
FAQs
What does it mean to "join the OC" at my campus?
An organizing committee (OC) is a group of physicians from the same campus who lead the conversation about union representation with their colleagues. OC members host listening sessions, gather priorities, and help shape what the bargaining unit would eventually negotiate.
It’s a real time commitment but not a legal commitment. You can step back at any point. The OC is how the unit goes from a few interested providers to a coordinated, campus-wide effort.
Will I get in trouble for talking to UAPD?
No. Your right to discuss union representation with your coworkers and with a union representative is protected by California law. UC, as a public employer, is governed by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), which guarantees your right to organize. Retaliation for organizing activity is unlawful.
UAPD also keeps your contact information confidential. Your name and campus are never shared with UC management.
What's an authorization card and what does signing one commit me to?
An authorization card is a written statement that you want UAPD to represent your bargaining unit. Cards are confidential and are submitted only to the labor board, not to your employer.
Signing a card does not commit you to paying dues or to anything else. It’s how the unit demonstrates enough interest to request a representation election. Until a contract is ratified, no dues are collected from anyone.
Isn't it better to wait and see what UC offers first?
When providers organize collectively, concerns that have sat unresolved for years often receive immediate attention, because leadership recognizes that providers are acting collectively and expecting answers. A union changes that dynamic permanently by creating an ongoing legal process, rather than relying on whether attention continues once the pressure eases.
Furthermore, this effort is not directed at our day-to-day middle managers, APP leaders, or service leads. They work hard to support us but are frequently placed in the difficult position of trying to explain or implement decisions made above them, often without having meaningful input themselves. When we discuss “leadership” making unilateral choices, we are primarily talking about senior leadership and executive decision-makers who set institutional priorities, approve restructuring, allocate resources, and determine how major operational changes are rolled out. A union can actually strengthen middle managers’ ability to advocate for their teams by creating a formal structure that senior leadership is legally required to take seriously.
Is this effort "against" UC?
No. This is about building a stronger working relationship, not an adversarial one. Providers and UC leadership share many of the same goals, especially around patient care, retention, and long-term sustainability. A contract simply gives providers a binding seat at the table for the decisions that affect those goals.
What about a strike? Isn't that dangerous for patients?
It’s a fair question, and for physicians and dentists it’s a serious one. A walkout isn’t just an inconvenience, it can affect patient care, and no one takes that lightly. Two things are worth knowing.
First, strikes are rare. In UAPD’s 50-plus years representing physicians and dentists, the record is bargaining, not striking. The goal is a contract, and the overwhelming majority are settled at the table. A strike is a last resort, used only after other options have been exhausted, typically when an employer refuses to bargain in good faith.
Second, a strike is never something “the union” imposes on you. It can only happen if the providers in your unit vote to authorize one. UAPD staff cannot call a strike over the unit’s wishes. And when healthcare workers do take action, it is done with advance notice and patient-coverage arrangements so that care continues. The deeper point: the issues that lead providers to organize, safe staffing, enough time with patients, working facilities, and the freedom to use your own clinical judgment, are themselves about patient care. The contract is the tool to address them.
How long does it take to get a first contract?
On average across industries, first contracts take about 465 days to negotiate. In healthcare specifically, the average is 500 days or more. UAPD’s experience with large healthcare systems generally lands in the 1 to 1.5 year range once bargaining starts.
What do union dues cost, and when do they start?
UAPD dues are 0.9% of gross salary ($0.90 per $100 earned). Dues are only collected after members ratify a first contract. There is no charge during an organizing drive: no cost to learn, to sign a card, or to vote.
Union members typically earn 10% to 20% more than their non-unionized peers.
Will higher-paid providers lose compensation so others can gain?
In provider negotiations, UAPD has historically worked to protect existing compensation while addressing long-standing disparities. Common tools include grandfathering existing arrangements, phased adjustments over time, separate compensation tracks, and maintaining current earnings while improving transparency. UAPD’s approach is “bring the floor up to the ceiling, not the ceiling down to the floor.”
Still have questions?
Who We Are
For Physicians, By Physicians
The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) is led by the physicians it represents. Our leadership and bargaining teams understand what it means to see patients, approaching negotiations with a clinical perspective. Founded in 1972, UAPD is the nation’s largest union of fully licensed doctors. Affiliated with AFSCME and the AFL-CIO, we negotiate strong contracts, protect our members’ rights, and ensure that clinicians have a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect their practice, their profession, and their patients.
We’re already at the table at the University of California. UAPD represents the UC Student Health physicians under a ratified contract covering compensation structure, workload protections, and grievance rights. If you’re curious to what a UAPD contract looks like, view the one we’ve already negotiated!
Governed by Physicians
UAPD’s Executive Board of Directors is made up of practicing clinicians elected by their peers. Bargaining teams are selected by the bargaining unit and made up of clinicians who understand the workplace they’re negotiating for. Union staff support the membership, not the other way around.
Internationally Affiliated, Local Autonomy
UAPD is AFSCME Local 206 and part of the AFL-CIO. These affiliations bring national resources, infrastructure, and institutional weight. Every bargaining unit sets its own priorities, shapes its own bargaining team, and bargains its own contract.
Physician Focused
For more than 50 years, UAPD has negotiated contracts and represented physicians across a wide range of specialties in both the public and private sector. Our physicians work in county and state-run facilities, federally qualified health centers, for-profit and nonprofit healthcare systems, university health systems, and national telehealth networks. Contract language is developed around how physicians actually practice medicine.