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.
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On Wednesday, hundreds of New York City building and construction trades workers gathered in hardhats for the annual Memorial Mass and Procession at St. Patrick's Cathedral honoring their fellow workers who have tragically died on the job over the past year.
Unionized staff at Condé Nast brands such as Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour, Bon Appétit and more have pledged to walk off the job after months of contentious bargaining on their first contract as well as on management’s proposed layoffs – and with the Met Gala only days away.
After weeks of escalating tactics, the unionized workers of Mobilization for Justice (MFJ) have forced management’s movement on key contract demands.
Production employees of the off-Broadway show “Little Shop of Horrors” have voted overwhelmingly to join The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), becoming the fourth off-Broadway group to unionize since IATSE launched its organizing efforts earlier this year.
Around the world, workers’ lives, livelihoods and rights are under attack. Climate disasters and conflicts are displacing people from their homes, and are increasing risks for working people and all our families.
August 5-9: The 2024 Summer School for Women in Unions and Community Organizations will be held from August 5-9th at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The registration for this year's event will be available shortly.
Thursday, May 23, 11AM: During the middle of REI’s annual Anniversary Sale members of REI Union SoHo will join with union siblings from across the city to protest REI’s failure to bargain a contract in good faith.
Wednesday, May 1, 11AM-2PM: Join the Public Employees Federation for a KPC Informational Picket from 11am to 2pm outside the faculty.
