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 2, 2023 | News Story

REI yesterday notified RWDSU—the union representing workers at its SoHo, New York store—through its new legal counsel that many workers at the store would be receiving pay cuts in their next paycheck amid a shakeup of the company’s legal representation at the bargaining table.

Jun 2, 2023 | News Story

Delivery workers work day in and day out to deliver New York City residents like me food, supplies, and medicine we need. Still, these workers have been at the mercy of multi-billion dollar corporations that exploit and deny them living wages.  

Jun 2, 2023 | News Story

The Staten Island Advance/SILive.com this week published

May 26, 2023 | News Story

The approximately 165 doctors employed by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (“Mount Sinai”) at Elmhurst Hospital this week ended their unfair labor practice strike after 3 days, with the doctors saying that Mount Sinai finally bargained in good faith and made movement that was sufficient fo

May 26, 2023 | News Story

Barnes & Noble workers at the Park Slope, Brooklyn store yesterday filed for their union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking representation with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

May 26, 2023 | News Story

UFT members are currently working under an expired contract.

May 26, 2023 | News Story

The New York Times Guild, a unit of The NewsGuild of New York, announced on Tuesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with The New York Times Company on a new collective bargaining contract after more than two years of negotiations.

May 26, 2023 | News Story

Hundreds of workers at Brooklyn Defender Services rallied during a lunch time picket on Wednesday, calling on BDS management to stop stalling on contract negotiations with the union and come to the table with serious proposals.

May 26, 2023 | News Story

When Mayor Adams and city leaders unveiled the nation’s first proposed minimum pay rate for food delivery workers last year, they made a bold promise: New York would finally deliver economic stability for an “essential” workforce.

May 26, 2023 | News Story

In affiliation with Workers United, Barbancino Pizza in Crown Heights is on track to become NYC's first unionized pizzeria! On Monday, workers filed for election with the NLRB and delivered a letter requesting voluntary recognition to the restaurant's owners.