So in this case, the union leadership in New York State is going to prevent a
state Medicare for all bill to be passed. And that leads me back to a
conclusion I came to a long time ago. Whatever the legal or financial structure
that we build with whatever humanitarian motivations of the folks who created
the idea, the actual structure will be corrupted by one or another weaknesse
which are built into the human psyche. Some people look at history and see the
tragedy in the economic structure or the political arrangements while I think
that it all comes back to human personality.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2021 11:46 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: So, you thought unions were on the side of the
people?
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.