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:

Jun 7, 2024 | News Story

Management at Lemonada Media, the award-winning podcast network, has voluntarily recognized the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) as the collective bargaining representatives of the staff’s producers and engineers.

Jun 7, 2024 | News Story

The employees of Harper's Magazine announced this week that they are forming a union with UAW Local 2110.

Jun 7, 2024 | News Story

UFCW 1500 is pleased to announce that on Wednesday, May 29, members employed by Blank Street Coffee unanimously ratified their first contract with the company.

May 31, 2024 | News Story

After more than 9 months of negotiations, the 2300 resident physicians and fellows at the heart of patient care at NYC Health and Hospitals

May 31, 2024 | News Story

After years of underfunding, the Social Security Administration has reached a 27 year low in staffing while asked to serve a record high number of applicants resulting in a burnt out workforce and long service delays.

May 31, 2024 | News Story

On Saturday, in the midst of REI’s annual Anniversary Sale, members of REI Union SoHo, represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), stopped work and walked off the job in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike to protest REI’s failure to bargain a contract in good faith

May 31, 2024 | News Story

Members of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, representing the editorial staffs of Lifehacker, Mashable, and PCMag as a part of the NewsGuild of NY, hit the streets outside Ziff Davis headquarters this week to demand wages that keep up with inflation and a contract that addresses transparency on AI.

May 31, 2024 | News Story

The Writers Guild of America East members at Pineapple Street Studios have spent over a year working hard to negotiate the terms of their first union contract.

May 24, 2024 | News Story

On Monday, 72% of participating union members at Mobilization for Justice (MFJ) voted to ratify a contract offer presented by MFJ Management last week.

May 24, 2024 | News Story

Yesterday, during the middle of REI’s annual Anniversary Sale, members of REI Union SoHo represented by RWDSU rallied in protest of REI’s failure to bargain a contract in good faith.