Contemporary Perceptions of Unionization in the Medical Profession: A Study of Attitudes of Unionized and Non-Union Physicians

Unionization of professional employees has heretofore been concentrated almost exclusively in government. Over the last decade or so, however, there has been significant union activity among nongovernment-employed professionals, including physicians. In 1972 there were about 3,500 unionized medical doctors of the 195,000 self-employed physicians in the U.S., or about 2 per cent of the eligible physicians [1, p. 7]. By 1976, the physicians’ unions were claiming as many as 50,000 members [2].