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:

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Amid growing concerns over Artificial Intelligence, a coalition of unions representing journalists, film and television writers, and creative workers have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urging Congress to ensure these workers are protected by any legislation addres

Mar 22, 2024 | News Story

Unionized employees of Mobilization for Justice, Inc. (MFJ) have now been on strike for a month in their fight for a fair contract and against MFJ's unfair labor practices.

Mar 22, 2024 | News Story

Unionized editorial workers, represented by The NewsGuild of New York at LexisNexis-owned Law360, walked off the job this week in a 24-hour work stoppage to protest layoffs that violate labor law.

Mar 22, 2024 | News Story

The national AFL-CIO this week hosted the first-ever AFL-CIO lobby day exclusively centered on women’s issues in the workforce and beyond.

Mar 15, 2024 | News Story

On Wednesday, March 13, Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH)/ Northwell) nurses held a speak-out in front of their hospital and announced that they authorized their executive committee to call a strike if management fails to bargain a fair contract that protects care for Staten Island patient