Portside

With huge shifts over the past decade in the way doctors are employed — half of all doctors now work for a health system or large medical group — the idea of unionizing is not only being explored but gaining traction within the profession.

A new generation of doctors struggling with ever-increasing workloads and crushing student debt is helping drive unionization efforts in a profession that historically hasn't organized.

Resident physicians at Loma Linda University Health voted to unionize on June 22. The historic vote is the latest chapter in the showdown between a Seventh-day Adventist healthcare institution and organized labor.

University of California student-care doctors went on strike Tuesday to protest unfair labor practices.