July 30, 2026
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Residents at Temple University Health System and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals have ratified their first contracts since joining the Committee of Interns and Residents union.
About 2,200 resident physicians at Temple University Health System and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals announced Thursday that they ratified their first contracts since voting to unionize.
The residents at the two health systems were the latest in the region to join the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), the largest union of resident physicians in the United States.
The union said the new contracts come with substantial wage increases, investments in resident education and agreements to address pay inequities between physicians doing the same work at different hospitals within their health systems.
The contract ratifications come after residents from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Jefferson, Temple and Einstein Healthcare Network mounted a joint unionization campaign in November 2024.
Temple and Jefferson residents are the first among that group to ratify contracts. Residents at CHOP voted against unionizing in December 2024. Einstein residents and those at Delaware's ChristianaCare voted to unionize in January 2025 but still have not ratified contracts.
About 1,400 medical residents and fellows at Penn Medicine were the first in Pennsylvania to join CIR after ratifying their first contract in September 2024.
With the addition of Temple and Jefferson's residents, about 86% of resident physicians in the greater Philadelphia area are now covered by CIR-SEIU collective bargaining agreements.
Union officials said residents at Temple and Jefferson provide direct patient care at more than 20 hospitals and medical facilities in the region, often working more than 80 hours per week. The union said residents' salaries often are insufficient to keep up with housing and training costs, including attendance at medical conferences.
"As physicians, we spend every day advocating for our patients to have the resources and support they need, and many of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck," Linda Li, a resident physician at Temple Northwest Family Medicine at Chestnut Hill Hospital, said in a statement Thursday. "Daycare alone took up about 60% of my salary, and I know residents who had to take on more debt just to cover basic living expenses. I'm incredibly proud that we stood together and won a contract that will make a material difference in our lives and for residents who come after us."
Temple Health said the new contract came from a "mutual commitment" to a constructive negotiation.
"The end result is a fair contract that appropriately supports our residents and Temple Health and preserves our ability to provide our patients with the high-quality care they deserve," the health system said in a statement.
A Jefferson Health spokesperson confirmed the contract with its resident physicians was ratified in June.
"We look forward to moving ahead together in support of the patients we serve," the spokesperson said.
CIR is the fastest-growing healthcare union in the country, representing more than 40,000 residents. That's more than double the union's ranks in 2019.
"We saw how residents at Penn were able to raise the bar for physician training and patient care by organizing and winning their first contract, and we’re thrilled to build on what they achieved," Adrian Kase, a resident physician in physical medicine & rehabilitation at Jefferson, said in a statement. "But this is just the beginning. As a union, we have a powerful collective voice, and we'll keep using it to ensure Philadelphia communities receive the best possible care in our hospitals."
