Last month, doctors across sixty-one clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin owned by the nonprofit Allina Health System elected to form a union. With around four hundred doctors in the bargaining unit — along with roughly 150 nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants — Allina doctors are likely the largest group of unionized private sector physicians in the United States, according to the New York Times.

The group voted 325-200 to unionize with Doctors Council, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, with twenty-four contested ballots. These employees are joining another unit of over a hundred doctors at Mercy Hospital in Minnesota, a two-campus facility owned by Allina Health System, who voted to unionize with Doctors Council in March; Allina is contesting that election with the National Labor Relations Board.

Allina employees complain of being understaffed and overworked and lacking input into decision-making, which they say is undermining patient care. Last week, Jacobin contributor Sara Wexler spoke with three health care providers from the recently unionized Allina clinics as well as a doctor from Mercy Hospital about their unionization efforts.