Answers to Your Questions/Comments
Why did you create this website?
We believe it is an ethical imperative to provide information so our co-residents and co-fellows can make the best informed decision when the time comes to vote in the election for union representation. This website has grown out of our personal research, and we want to share the resources we have found.
How much are the dues?
The union dues are 0.9% of your gross salary.
Your comparison method to other salaries flawed or just plain misleading. I wanted to figure out why there was such a huge loss in standard of living. Salary is working off housing purchasing data, not rent. Unless you plan on purchasing, rents are comparable in SoCal across LA-OC-SD unless you have been living under a rock. It’s cheaper in Loma Linda to rent, 1200 vs 1600, not 19,000 over a year. Not sold on your argument considering they only gave us 5k to offset spiking rents after hearing about the union.
Thank you for your comment. Here is a table outlining the differences in rents in cities of the compared residency programs; the average monthly rates were all sourced from rentcafe.com, which was the first website that popped up on Google for us when searching for average rent rates for apartments. This data was obtained from the website on 2/22/23 and the rates are subject to change, so we encourage you to do your own research and comparisons if you would like more updated information.
The online calculator used to provide the cost-of-living differences that we presented bases calculations “on data related to five general categories: housing, food, healthcare, transportation, and energy. These are the universally recognized core components of any cost of living estimate and represent those expenses that apply to everyone.” You can find this and more detailed explanations regarding this specific cost-of-living calculator in the Cost of Living Frequently Asked Questions section of Salary.com’s website. We specifically did not include the $5,000 housing stipend in the cost-of-living comparison, and used the salary of a PGY-2 LLUH resident WITHOUT a housing stipend. Regardless, we respect your opinions and recognize not everyone would interpret this data exactly as we have.
Hahahaha you guys are f****d
We are very concerned that this type of response would come from a fellow resident. We hope that the decision made around the secret ballot election is an informed one and that no one feels pressured one way or another. This decision will be made by the majority of people who vote. Please do your research and please vote.
The CIR did not refuse to represent the LLUH Staff. There was a waiting list for them because they are representing so many residents in negotiations. LLUH Staff got tired of waiting and picked a different Union. If you say your page is accurate, please update it to speak the truth.
Thank you for pointing this out. It sounds like we are saying the same thing. The CIR has not agreed to represent us because they do not have the time or ability right now. Because we were not part of the negotiations and likely do not have the most up to date or accurate information in this area, we have chosen to remove the statement regarding CIR from the website.
Why are you lying?
Everything on this site is factual to the best of our knowledge.
Why does Loma Linda lie about their financials?
We have no idea whether or not Loma Linda is providing accurate information about their financials. We can, however, direct you to the most recent publicly available tax information that was filed on 5/11/2021, which you can view here.
This is unethical and obviously backed by LLU. This is illegal union busting behavior.
Sharing our opinion about unionization and this union is not illegal. It is troubling that telling the truth about a union is considered union busting. We would not say we are medication busting if we tell a patient the truth about the side effects of something we've prescribed to them. We should all be encouraging research and informed decision making. This site is not backed by LLUH. It is 100% created and run by LLUH resident and fellow physicians.
This residency program will be seen as a joke if it continues with illegal and unethical union-busting tactics.
There is nothing illegal about us as residents sharing information.
SCABS
It is unfortunate that there are insulting attacks and bullying directed against residents who want to share honest information and ensure that everyone can make an informed decision.
Give your residents a place to sleep.
We are residents. We are not in program or hospital administration.
How is internal moonlighting within each specialty/department affected after unionizing? And who are you guys?
There is no way of knowing how internal moonlighting would be affected after unionizing. Whether it is permitted after unionizing would depend on what was negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement. One of the risks of the collective bargaining process is that both parties have to agree and neither party can force the other to make a concession or agree to a proposal. There is no way of knowing what a collective bargaining agreement will allow or disallow until after it has been negotiated.
As far as who we are, we are resident and fellow physicians at LLUH.
For those objecting to unionization on religious grounds, can you provide any historical examples of how unions in the past have forced something to happen that was antithetical to religious values?
There have been several cases, including at the Supreme Court, on this issue. A recent case in 2020 involved Ardeshir Ansari, a Boston College electrician, who filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the University and his union, SEIU (the parent to CIR). The lawsuit involved language that is in most CIR and UAPD-ASFCME contracts, requiring the dues to be automatically deducted from employee paychecks. Ansari, who is Muslim, objected to financially supporting the union and asked the union to divert his union fees to charity. There is also a recent case involving a security guard in San Francisco.
If I did not sign a card can I still vote? What does signing the card signify (e.g. does the signing mean a vote in favor of/against a union)? And just to clarify, the vote is on whether or not to unionize, correct?
Thank you for these important questions. Whether or not you signed a card has nothing to do with whether you can vote. Every single eligible resident and fellow can vote regardless of whether or not they signed a card. If you signed a card, you can still vote yes or no. If you didn't sign a card, you can still vote yes or no. Here is the only significance of the card: A union authorization card is what the union asks people to sign to demonstrate that they want to be represented. The union needs 30% of a targeted group of employees to sign cards stating that they wish to be represented in order to petition for an election. The union takes those cards, brings them to the NLRB with a petition for election, and then the NLRB compares those cards to a roster of employees that it requests from LLUH. Once it has been determined that 30% of employees have signed the card, the NLRB will direct an election. The outcome of that election is then determined by a majority (50% +1) of the people who actually show up to cast a ballot, not the total number of eligible employees. It is therefore of the utmost importance that every single eligible resident vote so that the outcome is determined by an actual majority. A small number should not be deciding for all residents whether or not they are unionized. For example, if only 100 people vote, 51 decide whether the entire group is unionized.
I would love to hear more about what personal negation power or abilities you feel residents have currently? Residents have had different representative groups for the past 4-5 years in discussions with GME while repeatedly being told no changes would be made. Only after learning unionization was almost at fruition did any changes occur. With the union as legal back up and other additional resources, those at the negotiations would be our residents, which is exactly what you are arguing we would lose.
We agree there have been serious challenges related to residency training at LLUH and that there have been, at best, slow responses from the GME. We argue that changes, albeit small and insufficient, have been consistently enacted even over the last year in the context of these ongoing discussions, (for example, increased flexibility of paid time off).
Currently, we have the ability to have a say in our individual training experience. Hiring a third party to speak for us as a collective does not automatically give us more power. It gives the union the power to negotiate with our employer. The union has no power to change anything – they merely have the power to ask for things. The hospital can say no to every single thing that the union requests. The union will certainly collect dues regardless of whether or not the issues important to residents are resolved.
I was just wondering if being on a visa has disadvantages to being in a union. Does the union below protect trainees on a visa from unjust or mistreatment? I want to understand how does the union protects us in general too. Thanks.
A union does not impact employees on visas any differently than employees not on visas. When you hire a union to speak for you, that doesn't necessarily give you additional protection. Unionized employees get disciplined and terminated for the same behaviors as non-union employees. In addition, the union has its own rules that may result in disciplinary action or even termination in cases of violation.
Can you clarify if all of the website content is created and moderated ONLY by CURRENT residents or fellows specifically from Loma Linda University at this exact time? Im not saying it’s not, but the wording does sound a little vague. I would recommend making this very clear for any who might be doubting this. I understand not wanted to personally identify, but just verifying you’re not ‘prior residents‘ or residents from another institution. Thanks for your efforts on this!
Yes, thank you for your feedback. All of the website content is created and moderated ONLY by CURRENT LLUH resident and fellow physicians in training.
You cite average cost of living at Loma Linda is low. Most residents live in Redlands. and most residents should live off 1 bedroom apartments. the difference with La is that there are multiple other cheaper places to live in vicinity. the same is not true of loma linda. loma linda needs to match cost of living to los angeles at the least. the average 1 bedroom rent in los angeles is around 2400. the average one bedroom in loma linda is 1900 and in redlands is 2200. therefore the average is almost the same for a los angeles 1 bedroom and a redlands 1 bedroom.
We agree that there is a range of rent rates in every location. We did a simple search of the average rent specifically for a 1-bedroom apartment in Redlands compared to Los Angeles, and these are screenshots of the reported averages according to zumper.com.
