To,
Edward B. Montgomery, PhD
Chair of the Board
President
Western Michigan University

Robert G. Sawyer, MD
The Hal B. Jenson, MD Dean
WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine

Bill Manns
Secretary of the Board
President & CEO
Bronson Healthcare Group

Dean Kindler, MD, MA
Regional President and CEO
Ascension Borgess

We, the undersigned, are resident physicians currently working at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), and are writing to you directly to address the contentious negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement between WMed and our union, the Resident and Fellow Alliance (RFA), AFT-Michigan, AFL-CIO.

We have been negotiating in good faith with WMed administration since August of 2024 and now find ourselves at a crossroads: the administration has refused to move from its initial offer of no meaningful increase in salary or additional benefits. They have stated multiple times, and in no uncertain terms, that this is the only offer the WMed Board will approve. Meanwhile, we have lowered our financial proposals considerably, hoping to reach an agreement, but to no avail. The final offer from your board is an insult to the value your resident physicians bring to WMed, its clinical partners, and to the people of SW Michigan we provide high-quality care for every day.

To add further insult to injury, your resident physicians are being denied retroactive wages which were already approved by WMed, withheld with unionization and the legal framework of NLRA as a cover, knowing full well that the pre-approved increases could have been given while negotiating a final contract upon an interim agreement with the RFA.

We are hoping that this letter allows you to understand our position so you can either 1) openly declare that the current offer is the best the WMed board can provide, as is being claimed by your representatives, or 2) pursue a better path forward where management takes our legitimate grievances seriously and makes an offer that reflects our needs and matches them to the best extent possible. We are counting on you to take this action soon.

Sincerely,

The resident physicians of WMed