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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New York City’s neglect for its Staten Island Ferry mariners, who have been working for the last 11 years without a contract, impacted other working New Yorkers this week when the system suffered service disruptions due to understaffing caused by the NYC Department of Transportation's failure to
Nearly 300 journalists at Reuters, the global news agency, walked off the job yesterday for 24 hours in protest of management’s slow-walking contract renewal negotiations, the first major labor action by journalists at the company in more than 30 years.
UPS workers across the country — including 14 locations in the New York region — rallied this week to launch the Teamsters contract campaign, a one-year effort to inform and mobilize members to win the strongest possible contract at UPS.
The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU) had a huge victory this week, securing their inclusion in the New York State Health Care Worker Bonus Program.
A strong contingent of New York State Alliance of Retired Americans leaders participated in the ARA virtual National Membership meeting July 27-28. The program included addresses by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Raymond, along with U.S. Rep.
It’s inexcusable that New York City commuters are having to pay the price for the NYC Department of Transportation’s failure to resolve a contract for more than 11 years.
Teamsters at UPS held a rally Thursday after multiple workers were sent to the emergency room with heat exhaustion last week. The company refuses to install fans in trucks or adequate ventilation in sortation facilities.
Union members worked together across the labor movement to win many important victories for working people last year.
Workers in production departments for TV commercials across the United States are going public with their union with the backing of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Stand With Production movement.
Staff at Harper Collins Publishers including workers in editorial, sales, publicity, design, legal and marketing held a one day strike on Wednesday to back up their demand for a fair contract.