Physician collective bargaining: A win over a weighty word

A decision that physicians are not "supervisors" gives new life to the AMA-founded physician labor group's attempts to organize privately employed doctors.

Editorial. March 4, 2002.

The right of physicians to collectively bargain in a private-sector workplace hinges on one word: supervisor.

A recent victory by the AMA-founded Physicians for Responsible Negotiation holds out fresh hope that the word can't always be used to block physician organizing. It is a striking turnabout from last year, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling appeared to make the word an even more powerful weapon in the hands of physician employers.

The National Labor Relations Act says that no supervisor can be part of a labor bargaining unit in private-sector employment. The law goes on to define just what a supervisor is. Many employed physicians won't recognize themselves in the definition. They don't hire, fire, reward, discipline employees or fulfill other "supervisor" responsibilities.

However, last year's Supreme Court ruling in Kentucky River Community Care v. National Labor Relations Board raised a lot of concern. The case was about nurses who sought to be included in a union, but the implications for physicians appeared obvious. In a split decision, the court found that the nurses in this workplace used their "independent judgment" -- key words from the labor law -- to control the tasks of others and were thus supervisors.

Now comes the first post-Kentucky River case to take into account the high court's comments. This regional NLRB ruling was brought as the result of a PRN organizing effort among physicians working for Occupational Health Centers of New Jersey and Concentra Managed Care Inc. [...]