Organizing force: Bringing doctors and unions together

Michael P. Connair, MD, devotes his spare time to rallying physicians to the union cause. And his colleagues seem to be listening more closely than ever before.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. July 30, 2001.

Chelan, Wash. -- It's 10:30 on a gorgeous Saturday morning in June. Most people would want to spend the day outdoors. But inside an air-conditioned hotel meeting room, Michael P. Connair, MD, stands before 30 orthopedic surgeons. Instead of lecturing about the latest in hip replacements, he's preaching a cause more often associated with miners or factory workers: labor unions.

As an organizer, Dr. Connair has spread the union message to physicians in 27 states for the past three years. Only by grouping together can physicians withstand today's pressures on the medical profession, he tells his audience.

On a slide projected behind him, the North Haven, Conn., orthopedic surgeon displays a black-and-white drawing of a large fish -- the insurance companies -- chasing after a bunch of little fish ready to scatter -- the physicians.

"They divide and conquer, threatening each one with extinction," Dr. Connair says, drawing nods from some of the doctors attending the Washington State Orthopedic Assn.'s socioeconomic symposium. "On the physician side, the contracts aren't even contracts. They often don't have arbitration clauses. You can be fired without cause. We get stonewalled."

By banding together, Dr. Connair says, the picture changes. He swaps slides, showing the little fish coming together as one. The newly formed fish is even bigger than the single fish that had preyed on them.

"It's doctors helping doctors," he says, leaning forward on the podium to emphasize his point. "You're not doing yourself or your patients [any favors] by signing a bad contract." [...]