Unions are no different than government. We put people in office, but
if we don't stay involved and hold their feet to the fire, we get what
we deserve.
I've belonged to unions most of my working years, until we set up
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services and signed a contract with the
state. We made several attempts at organizing the other contract
employees, but fear of losing their contracts kept them silent.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A Backroom Deal to Kill New York State's Single Payer Bill
By Julia Rock, The Daily Poster
10 June 21
Under pressure from labor leaders and insurance execs, NY Dem leaders are
blocking a vote on health care legislation even though it has majority
support in the legislature.
A bill to create a single-payer health care system in New York state has
been co-sponsored by a majority of lawmakers in both houses of the state
legislature for the first time ever - but it will likely be killed by that
same legislature this week.
Advocates say that, under pressure from both insurance corporations and
labor unions, New York legislative leaders are not planning to hold an
up-or-down vote on the measure before the legislative session ends on
Thursday.
The bill, known as the New York Health Act, has passed the state Assembly
five times before. This year, the legislative session is coming to a close
with the New York Health Act stuck in committee, not even having received a
vote in the Assembly.
In addition to lobbying by health insurance companies and business groups
in
the state, public sector unions including the United Federation of Teachers
(UFT) have been lobbying against the bill. Realities of Single Payer - a
coalition of businesses, insurance lobbying groups, and unions opposing the
legislation - has been running television and radio ads.
In effect, labor leaders are reprising their role opposing Medicare for All
during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
"We see our primary opposition as private insurance companies and their
front groups and associations. They are doing things like running TV ads
and
online ads against the New York Health Act, with a lot of misinformation
and
fearmongering, particularly directed towards seniors," Ursula Rozum,
co-director of the Campaign for New York Health, a group organizing to pass
the bill, told The Daily Poster.
"But with New York being a progressive state where unions have a lot of
power in terms of helping democrats maintain their majority, I think it
does
make sense that without the support of public employee unions, there are
Democrats that are reluctant to get enthusiastically behind the Health
Act,"
she added. "I think it is accurate to say that the lack of support from
public employee unions is part of what is holding up the vote on the bill."
The legislation would provide universal health care coverage for New
Yorkers, with no copays, deductibles, or premiums. It would be funded by a
progressive income tax.
If New York lawmakers do not allow a vote on single-payer, it would mark
the
second time in recent years a large state with big Democratic legislative
majorities prevented an up-or-down vote on such a proposal. In 2017, the
California assembly speaker refused to hold a vote on a single-payer bill,
even though Democrats had supermajorities in both the assembly and the
senate, as well as the governorship.
Labor Opposition
On May 5, the New York City Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) sent a letter
to
Speaker Carl Heastie to "register our strenuous objection to the New York
Health Act 2021." The MLC represents 102 municipal unions, including the
UFT.
"To avoid any misunderstanding, the MLC supports universal health care
coverage," the letter said. "But, as we have repeatedly stated in
connection
with prior attempts to pursue a single-payer system in New York, next to
wages, the health care program for NYC workers is of primary importance."
The MLC's argument against the bill is that unions have sacrificed wage
increases in the past in order to bargain for better health care coverage
and lower costs, and forcing them to switch to a single-payer system would
make that past work a waste. "Indeed, because of this economic trade off,
we
previously suggested that MLC-member workforces be carved out of the
statewide bill," noted the MLC letter.
The UFT is registered to lobby the Assembly speaker's office and the Senate
majority leader's office on the New York Health Act, and is also actively
lobbying against it. The UFT signed an open letter coordinated by Realities
of Single Payer sent to the state legislature on June 4 urging lawmakers to
oppose the bill.
When asked why the bill has not been brought for a floor vote given that a
majority of lawmakers in both branches are signed on as cosponsors, neither
the Speaker's office nor the senate majority leader's office responded.
Other major unions in the state, including 1199 Service Employees
International Union (SEIU), a health care workers union, and the New York
State Nurses Association, are supporting the bill.
Public sector unions including the UFT have supported single-payer bills in
New York in past years when the bills passed the assembly. But in 2019, the
New York State United Teachers, representing unionized teachers and health
care workers in the state, came out against the bill. The group said that
it
supported a single-payer health care system, but believed it should be
addressed at the federal rather than state level. In 2019, after Democrats
had won back a majority in the state senate for the first time in a decade,
the bill didn't get a vote in either body.
Rozum, the co-director of the Campaign for New York Health, emphasized that
unions should be an important ally in the fight for single-payer. "We don't
see the public employees unions as our primary opposition, but rather as a
really powerful group that we want to win over in this work."
A Barrier To Health Care Reform
Historically, the opposition from labor unions to single-payer legislation
has been a barrier to reform. While coordinated and well-funded campaigns
from the insurance industry and hospitals have been the biggest problem for
advocates, unions have not been reliable allies.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, the largest labor union in Nevada,
the Culinary Workers Local 226, criticized Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders'
support for Medicare for All weeks before the state's caucuses. Sanders
ultimately won the Nevada caucuses, anyway, thanks in part to the votes of
rank-and-file members of the culinary union, who said they were backing
Sanders because of his support for single-payer.
More recently, opposition from the SEIU of Colorado to public option
legislation there contributed to efforts to water down the bill. This week,
the Colorado state legislature passed a bill that would create a public
option in two years if private insurers don't reduce premiums by 15 percent
in that time period. Health care providers will not be required to accept
the insurance.