The union representing about 2,600 doctors-in-training at Mass General Brigham overwhelmingly approved its first contract with the state‘s largest health system, a three-year deal that will raise wages by a total of 7.5 percent.
Ninety-eight percent of all voting members of the local chapter of the Committee of Interns and Residents, or CIR, approved the deal. The vote came nearly two years after the doctors joined the union.
Under the terms of the contract, union members will get a 2.5 percent raise retroactive to July 1 of last year, another 2.5 percent this July, and an additional 2.5 percent in July 2026. The agreement expires at the end of June 2027.
“Everyone‘s just really happy,” Dr. Lee Richman, a third-year resident in the pathology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and member of the union’s bargaining committee, said. “We can start using the contract to ensure that everyone is safe and healthy at their job and can be the best possible doctor they can.”
Voting began on May 13 and ended Thursday. The bargaining unit released the results Friday morning.
Dr. Chris Schenck, a second-year resident in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement that the vote “represents a collective voice standing up for fairness against one of the most powerful healthcare systems in the country.”
Speaking on behalf of MGB, Dr. Paul Anderson, chief academic officer, said the corporation was pleased to have reached a contract with the union after dozens of negotiating sessions over 18 months.
“We are profoundly grateful for the exceptional contributions our trainees have made to our patients and healthcare system, and we take pride in the fact that they have consistently been among the highest-paid in the country and continue to be the highest-paid in Boston,” he said in a statement.
The bargaining unit is the largest chapter of interns, residents, and fellows at a private health system in the country, according to the CIR. MGB is the biggest private employer in the state, with about 82,000 workers. Its flagship hospitals are Mass. General and Brigham and Women’s.
In addition to the pay increases, the agreement requires MGB to set up a $50,000 fund to support the mental health and well-being of trainees. The union said the fund was necessary because physicians-in-training experience a significantly elevated risk of suicide compared to the general population.
The deal also requires MGB to pay for ride-sharing services that residents sometimes use after working shifts that last as long as 28 hours, according to union officials.
The contract also reimburses trainees up to $5,000 a year for the cost of medical board exams, preparatory materials, and licensing fees, said Richman.
Perhaps most importantly, he said, the contract gives residents due process protections they didn’t have before they organized, including the right to have a union representative with them if they face potential discipline.
However, the agreement doesn’t include other provisions that union members had wanted, including “fertility and family building benefits,” such as broader coverage for in vitro fertilization.
At protests last December outside MGB’s flagship hospitals, residents noted that many doctors start families later in life because they spend years in medical school, residency programs, and fellowships. They also cited studies showing that female residents have higher rates of miscarriage because of the stress and long hours of work.
MGB spokeswoman Jessica Pastore said at the time that the health system already covers IVF services for employees. She said the union was seeking coverage for elective egg-freezing to delay childbearing, even if there is no medical reason, and a $25,000 stipend for costs related to adoption and surrogacy.
The new contract follows intense wrangling by both sides. At the protests attended by about 400 union members last December, residents accused their employer of bargaining in bad faith and chanted “shame” and “union power.”
MGB parried the accusations, saying the health system was “committed to bargaining in good faith” and that “we have the highest respect for our trainees and value the many contributions they make in the care of our patients.”
With the approval of the contract, union officials say, residents’ overall compensation will increase by up to $25,000 by July 2027 from what they were earning before they began organizing.
That increase includes a 10 percent raise and a stipend that MGB gave residents in early 2023 after they began trying to join the union. Union officials contend that the organizing prodded the health system to provide the raise and stipend, but Pastore said they were unrelated.
Currently, the starting salary of a first-year resident, including the stipend, is $88,000 a year, according to the union. By the end of the agreement, that will rise to $95,000.
The physicians-in-training began to organize in early 2023. They alleged exploitation and said their salaries had not kept pace with the rising costs of housing and child care.
The organizing by MGB residents reflects a national trend and is part of a broader push by doctors to unionize. (Next Friday another union, the Doctors Council, is expected to announce whether about 250 primary care doctors at MGB have voted to join it.)
Since the onset of the pandemic, CIR said, the union of residents has more than tripled in size as trainees seek to combat what they describe as exploitation by large corporate health systems.
In January, resident physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center also voted overwhelmingly to join CIR. They hope to negotiate a contract this year.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.