Providers, Clinicians, and Advanced Practice Professionals (PCAPP) Caucus
Accomplishments // Our Shared Concerns // Media // Open letter
AN OPEN LETTER TO DENVER HEALTH PROVIDERS, CLINICIANS, AND ADVANCED PRACTICE PROFESSIONALS
Dear colleagues,
We write to you as fellow Denver Health direct care providers, clinicians, and advanced practice professionals. In a minute we’re going to ask you to join our union, Denver Health Workers United. This is why. We love our workplace, our mission, and the work we do. We want to see Denver Health at its best: dedicated to compassionate care, equity, and justice. Our society has been awakened to the health disparities caused by systemic racism and classism, as well as the negligent and unfair treatment of frontline workers. As voices across the country are calling for institutional change we are uniting in the fight to improve the systems in which we work.
Simply stated: we need you.
Please join us in our union and help us further the mission to which we have all committed. The time has come to stand up, side by side, with our fellow employees. You can learn about our union in our own words here in the We Are Denver Health video. We know that unions are for us, too. Please do not allow outdated biases or inaccurate information about our union keep you from taking part. Who will stand together to protect, defend, and strengthen the institution we cherish if not us?
In These Times, 5/13/21
Want a Healthier Workplace? Unionize.
COVID-19 Is Changing What It Means to Be a Doctor
Boston Review, 7/16/2020
The Physician’s Role in Racial Equity
Health City, 6/5/2020
New Yorker, 8/5/2019
Why Doctors Should Organize
Meeting the challenges of modern medicine will require more than seeing patients.
Check out our accomplishments and shared concerns
Our shared concerns:
An independent voice for all employees and respect for their concerns and issues
Transparency, communication, and accountability
Public health and healthcare funding
Proper compensation for all workers, not just executive staff
Solving healthcare inequities and institutional racism
Adequate staffing ratios, training, and PPE
Health and safety precautions
Affirm workers' rights to join a union and stop spending DHHA money and resources on anti-union activities
Equity in hiring, compensation, and promotion practices
Professional development & skill acquisition opportunities
Justice on the job and workers’ rights
Together, we have already accomplished:
Returning executive bonuses and reevaluation of the DHHA compensation structure
Established the support of more than sixty Congresspeople, Colorado legislators and Denver Councilmembers
Providing antiracism training to union members and partnering with DHHA physicians
Created an anti-racism task force that holds quarterly meetings between union members and hospital leadership
Forced hospital leadership to change Denver Health policy to clarify that employees have the right to join a union
DHWU and CWA 7799 members helped pass 2U in 2024, extending collective bargaining rights to Denver City and County employees (an important step toward the goal of winning these rights for Denver Health employees too!)
DHWU and CWA 7799 members knocked doors and canvassed to help pass 2Q in 2025, generating an additional $70 million per year in funding for Denver Health
Grassroots organizing and written and spoken testimony integral to the passage of statewide legislation:
Whistleblower protections
Nurse staff safety
Protections for Public Workers Act (PROPWA)
Filed AND WON! an unfair labor practice complaint against hospital leadership for retaliating against a union member in the paramedic division
Recurring meetings with the Denver Mayor’s office
Maintained a constant presence and accountability at monthly DHHA board meetings, including presenting a plan to dismantle racism together in July 2020
Education through professional continuing education classes, taught by union members
Department-level petitions and collective actions in the paramedic division, adult psych, adolescent psych, SICU, EVS, STAR, Dental, and more
Increased attention by hospital leadership to gather and address employee concerns including annual pay raises, hazard pay, PPE transparency, town hall meetings, and more