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Podcast

Should Doctors Unionize? The Story of Why Physicians at Salem Hospital Joined a Union to Take Back Power with Dr. Sean Codier

Offcall Team

Key Podcast Moments

How worsening overcrowding, understaffing, and corporatization left Salem Hospital physicians feeling powerless and why they decided collective action was their only option.
The surprising reality of physician unions: what they actually do, how they form, and how they’re being used to compel hospital leadership to negotiate.
The fear tactics and misinformation often used to discourage doctors from organizing and the truth behind myths like “pay leveling” and “third-party interference.”
The biggest questions and myths about unionization for physicians and what Salem Hospital physicians have seen since they unionized in terms of outcomes.

Should Doctors Unionize? The Story of Why Physicians at Salem Hospital Joined a Union to Take Back Power with Dr. Sean Codier - How I Doctor with Dr. Graham Walker

Episode 52 • 30th October 2025 • How I Doctor with Dr. Graham Walker • Offcall

00:00:0000:42:16

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Dr. Sean Codier is an emergency physician at Salem Hospital within Mass General Brigham and one of the leaders behind the first successful physician unionization effort in the system’s history. What started as frustration over understaffing, overcrowding, and a lack of voice in patient-care decisions grew into a movement that’s now inspiring doctors nationwide to organize for change.

In this episode of How I Doctor, Dr. Graham Walker talks with Dr. Codier about why more physicians are turning to unions as their only legal avenue to force real dialogue with hospital leadership. They discuss how the corporatization of medicine has stripped doctors of autonomy, the myths administrators use to discourage organizing, and what it actually looks like to form and run a physician union. Dr. Codier also shares the personal risks, lessons learned, and why he believes reclaiming physicians’ collective voice is essential to protecting both the profession and the patients we serve.

This episode is a candid look at how medicine reached this crossroads and asks whether the future of physician advocacy depends on this form of collective power.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why more physicians are unionizing and what that process really involves.
The biggest myths hospitals spread about unions — and what’s actually true.
The personal and professional risks of organizing inside large health systems.
Whether unionization is a long-term solution to help physicians reclaim medicine’s moral core.

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📝 For a full transcript of this episode click HERE

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