Health Care

Health care is a basic human right.  America’s labor movement has worked for more than a century for guaranteed high-quality health care for everyone.  The Affordable Care Act is a historic milestone on this journey, but we still have a long way to go.

America must continue moving forward toward a more equitable and cost-effective health care system. Moving forward means working with employers to demand health care payment and delivery reforms to control costs, allowing people of all ages to buy into the equivalent of Medicare through a public plan option and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.  Of course, the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality health care is through the social insurance model (“Medicare for All”), as other industrialized countries have shown. 

The worst thing we could do is move backward by repealing the Affordable Care Act or its key provisions; privatizing Medicare or turning it into a voucher program; raising the Medicare eligibility age; increasing Medicare co-pays and deductibles or otherwise cutting Medicare benefits; or taxing employment-based health care benefits. 

More about this issue:

Apr 7, 2023 | News Story

The staff of the Hispanic Society of America, members of UAW Local 2110, will soon enter their third week on strike, having walked off the job to fight for a fair first contract on March 27th.

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

Freelance musicians who have been on strike for more than a month rallied along with their trombones, trumpets and saxophones on the Broadway sidewalk in support of an agreement with performance producer Di

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

The staff of the Hispanic Society of America, members of UAW Local 2110, officially went out on strike starting Monday morning, with workers gathering outside the Society's building at 613 West 155th Street starting at 7am.

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

Members of the Bird Union (affiliated with Communications Workers of America) rallied Thursday outside Audubon Society headquarters to demand that their employer agree to a more equitable organization.

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

More than 1,100 employees at The New York Times walked out on Dec. 8 as a part of their collective fight to reach a complete and equitable contract.

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, has been bargaining with the Broadway League for over two months on an agreement for shows on tour.

Mar 31, 2023 | News Story

Statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee testimony:

Mar 29

Bird Union members represented by CWA 1180 have been in a battle with management for more than a year to secure a contract. Management at their employer, the National Audubon Society, is not bargaining in good faith at all, and is in fact hardly bargaining period.

Mar 24, 2023 | News Story

The staff of the Hispanic Society of America, located at 613 West 155th Street, have authorized a strike after more than a year of negotiations for a union contract.

Mar 24, 2023 | News Story

Hundreds of Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) members at Hearst Magazines walked off the job yesterday to demand management agree to a fair first union contract at their last scheduled day of negotiations on March 28.