What Doctors Council does

Doctors Council SEIU is the oldest and largest union of attending physicians in the United States, founded in 1959 and headquartered at 50 Broadway in New York City. The organization represents thousands of employed physicians across multiple states — including New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Delaware, Illinois, and Wisconsin — and serves as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative for major bargaining units at NYC Health + Hospitals (2,500+ physicians), Allina Health (600+ providers), ChristianaCare (500+ physicians), and Mass General Brigham (~400 primary care physicians). Core services include collective bargaining and contract negotiation, workplace dispute resolution through grievances and arbitrations, member advocacy, supplementary benefits and welfare fund administration through SEIU, and Collaboration Councils that partner with hospital administration on quality-improvement initiatives.

The union operates as a nonprofit membership organization funded entirely by member dues, which finance staffing, contract negotiations, arbitrations, office space, legal assistance, and other operational costs. As an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Doctors Council participates in the Doctors United coalition alongside CIR/SEIU, aggregating more than 45,000 doctors and gaining access to SEIU's 2.1M-member infrastructure, welfare plans, and political apparatus. The go-to-market model is community-led grassroots organizing: union representatives identify workplace issues, build relationships with physician groups at healthcare facilities, and run organizing campaigns that culminate in NLRB-supervised elections. Distribution is national through offices in New York and a Midwest regional hub, with phone and fax contact channels by geography.

The business has no proprietary technology stack — there are no APIs, mobile applications, or software products. The organization offers no technology services. Its competitive advantages derive from institutional longevity, SEIU affiliation, NLRB-mediated switching costs once a unit is organized, and proven track record in winning strong contracts (97% ratification at ChristianaCare, 90% ULP strike authorization at Allina, 88% unionization vote at MGB). Doctors Council also engages in political advocacy, including formal candidate endorsements in New York primaries, as a top-of-funnel organizing and influence lever.

Name

Doctors Council

Legal name

Doctors Council SEIU

Website

https://doctorscouncil.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1959

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Doctors Council SEIU is the oldest and largest union of attending physicians in the United States, providing collective bargaining, contract negotiation, advocacy, and benefits administration to thousands of employed physicians across six states as an affiliate of SEIU.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Labor Union Services

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Hospitals, Clinics & Charitable Healthcare Providers (BPAGACAB)

Keywords

• Physician labor union
• Collective bargaining services
• Contract negotiation services
• Workplace advocacy services
• Member benefit administration

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Doctors Council generates revenue through membership dues paid by unionized physicians. Dues provide resources for staff, negotiations, arbitrations, office space, legal assistance, and other union operations. As stated: 'Dues are an investment in our collective future. As unionized physicians, we have more power to maintain and change our working conditions and to fight for the betterment of our patients and healthcare.'

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Doctors Council is a labor union that represents attending physicians in collective bargaining, contract negotiation, and workplace advocacy with their healthcare system employers. It provides grievance and arbitration representation, supplemental benefits and welfare fund administration through its SEIU affiliation, and operates Collaboration Councils that partner with hospital administrations on quality improvement initiatives. Members pay dues to access these union services, which aim to improve physician working conditions, compensation, autonomy, and patient care.

Product overview

Doctors Council is the country's oldest and largest union of attending physicians, offering a comprehensive suite of union services including collective bargaining, member advocacy, contract negotiation, workplace dispute resolution, collaboration councils for quality improvement, and benefit administration through SEIU. The organization represents doctors across multiple states and healthcare systems, providing a unified voice for physicians, patients, and communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Collective Bargaining Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% vote to ratify first contract at ChristianaCare
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SEIU (Service Employees International Union)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1959Doctors Council is an affiliate of SEIU, the largest and fastest growing healthcare workers' union in North America with over 2.1 million members. This affiliation provides substantial backing, resources, and collective power for physician representation. SEIU Healthcare unites CIR/SEIU and Doctors Council in the Doctors United coalition representing over 45,000 doctors.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU): CIR/SEIU is the nation's largest union of resident physicians and a fellow SEIU affiliate. It is part of the same Doctors United coalition as Doctors Council, directly comparable in mission (physician union representation), structure (SEIU affiliation), and target membership (employed physicians), though focused on trainees rather than attendings.
• Union of American Physicians & Dentists (UAPD): UAPD is an independent union representing licensed physicians and dentists, primarily in California public-sector roles. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor to Doctors Council in the attending-physician union space, though it lacks SEIU's scale and chose a non-affiliated path.
• SEIU Healthcare: SEIU Healthcare is the parent division within SEIU that unites physician and healthcare-worker unions, including Doctors Council and CIR/SEIU. It is the most direct strategic counterparty and structural sibling, providing the operational umbrella under which Doctors Council operates.

Broad incumbents

• American Medical Association (AMA): AMA is the largest professional association for physicians in the US. While AMA is a professional society rather than a collective-bargaining union, it represents an overlapping constituency (US physicians) and competes for physician attention, dues, and political advocacy influence.
• AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees): AFSCME is one of the largest US public-sector unions and represents thousands of public hospital physicians and healthcare workers. It is a competing union for the same set of public-sector attending physicians that Doctors Council organizes, particularly in municipal and state hospital systems.
• AFT (American Federation of Teachers) Healthcare: AFT's healthcare division represents nurses and other healthcare professionals at public and private institutions. It is comparable in operating as a collective-bargaining union for healthcare workers and has organized nursing and allied-health units in hospitals where Doctors Council is active.

Emerging players

• National Nurses United (NNU): NNU is the largest US union of registered nurses and an AFL-CIO affiliate. It is comparable in mission (collective bargaining for healthcare professionals) and often co-organizes within the same hospitals as Doctors Council, but its members are nurses rather than physicians.
• National Medical Association (NMA): NMA is the largest professional organization representing African American physicians and their patients. While primarily a professional and advocacy association rather than a bargaining union, it overlaps with Doctors Council's represented constituency and engages in parallel physician-advocacy work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/doctorscouncil
• Facebookfacebook.com/doctorscouncilseiu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/doctors-council-seiu
• Instagraminstagram.com/doctorscouncil_seiu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Doctors Council