The Work that We Bargain For
Dear UAPD Colleagues:
2025 has been a year of hard and meaningful work for UAPD’s members. Throughout history, thought leaders have extolled meaningful work. Aristotle said, “pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” French writer Albert Camus noted that “without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.” Our doctors and providers should be satisfied and proud of the soulful, human work they do for their patients, their communities, and their governments. I like to think that our union has helped our members achieve this satisfaction.
Our doctors in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties provide critical safety net healthcare services for the underserved and unhoused. UAPD providers in FQHCs from Washington State to Colorado and Washington, DC, do the same. Inmates and mentally challenged patients in California State and County facilities receive excellent court-ordered care from our psychiatrists and internists. We have organized and bargained for rural clinics in Washington, New Mexico, and now at Logan Health in Montana. Our members service privately owned clinics and hospitals in Seattle and California, and are being organized in Phoenix, AZ, and Rochester, NY. We have also bargained excellent contracts for our doctors in large academic centers in Los Angeles and Buffalo, NY.
Besides the classical labor union issues of wages, benefits, and working conditions, professional judgment and autonomy are what our members demand. With AI and robotics inserting itself at breakneck speed into healthcare, it is imperative that our union engage in serious dialogue with management and our employers to prevent job displacements and professional judgment substitution by nonhuman intelligence. When used correctly, AI is a helpful tool. But even if management owns and pays for AI, do they have the right to impose these protocols on healthcare delivery without our doctors’ input? Who will be liable for bad patient outcomes? The provider or the AI software? AI guardrails and flexibility will become increasingly important in our upcoming contracts. We intend to meet and confer on any change in working conditions that AI may create. We will need the awareness of our members to inform us of such changes.
Centuries ago, the Luddite workers of England and early America physically destroyed the industrial technologies that threatened their jobs. UAPD is seeking more reasoned solutions for the concerns of new healthcare technologies. Our representatives, attorneys, and bargaining teams will fight hard in the coming year for contracts and policies that will make work easier and more satisfying for our members while preserving and protecting their jobs and human autonomy.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year!
In solidarity,
Stuart Bussey, MD, JD
UAPD President