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 21, 2023 | News Story

Julie Su has made a career out of representing not only workers, but the most vulnerable workers in America. Her record speaks for itself. As a young attorney representing trafficked Thai garment workers outside of Los Angeles, she won $4 million in stolen wages.

Apr 21, 2023 | News Story

Striking workers of the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, an Upper Manhattan institution dedicated to Portuguese and Spanish art, staged an action outside the Upper East Side residence of Board Chair Philippe de Montebello this week, with support from their UAW siblings from across the City.

Apr 21, 2023 | News Story

Stressing the service and sacrifices made by transit workers throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, TWU Local 100 President Richard Davis kicked off contract negotiations with the MTA this week with a presentation of general

Apr 14, 2023 | News Story

Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers working in live theatre, and The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, announced yesterday that they have reached a new, three-year collective b

Apr 14, 2023 | News Story

Tens of thousands of people who work for New York City will soon get their first raise since the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the city’s largest municipal employee union – AFSCME District Council 37 – earlier this month voted 97.7% in favor of the citywide economic contract.

Apr 14, 2023 | News Story

The New York City Council this week resoundingly passed a resolution demanding Wendy’s join the Fair Food Program, a groundbreaking initiative that guarantees the rights of farmworkers on farms under its protection.

Apr 14, 2023 | News Story

More than 40 progressive organizations, including the AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, Women’s March, and GreenPeace, have voiced their support for unionizing Starbucks workers in a letter to the company’s new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan.

Apr 28

Join the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) for our annual Workers’ Memorial Day event to honor those who have died or suffered injuries or illnesses while on the job, to recognize the sacrifices made by all essenti

Apr 7, 2023 | News Story

In the latest addition to the wave of organizing sweeping NYC and universities across the US, a majority of 300 student workers at Mount Sinai’s Icahn Graduate School of Medicine have signed up to form their union, Sinai Student Workers-UAW.

Apr 7, 2023 | News Story

Since January, Equity has been in negotiations with The Broadway League for a new agreement covering the shows they send out as national tours.