NJ Unions and Labor Groups Call on Rep. Andy Kim to Co-Sponsor Medicare for All in Congress
NJ Unions and Labor Groups Call on Rep. Andy Kim to
Co-Sponsor Medicare for All in Congress
NEW JERSEY — Eleven unions and labor organizations in New Jersey are calling on Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-3) to co-sponsor Medicare for All in Congress.
It’s time to take healthcare off the negotiating table and free up workers to bargain for wage increases and other benefits that have been sacrificed to maintain employer-sponsored healthcare.
Healthcare is a human right, not a benefit of employment; and healthcare is a matter of life and death, which is non-negotiable.
With the majority of union members now supporting Medicare for All, unions are stepping up to lead the fight for healthcare justice by committing organizational resources and mobilizing political support for single-payer, universal healthcare.
Employment-based healthcare isn’t good for anyone and it’s not good for unions. Healthcare is now the primary impetus for strikes, lockouts and concession bargaining for unions.
Millions of workers, including immigrant and low-wage workers go without health insurance or struggle to pay for massive out-of-pocket costs. Medicare for All is guaranteed healthcare – everyone in, nobody out.
“From prenatal to long-term care, workers need a system that enables them to take care of their health regardless of employment, financial or other circumstances and without the interference of costly insurance middlemen,” said Anna-Marta Visky with Our Revolution, the group organizing on the ground in New Jersey to get more federal co-sponsors of the legislation.
“We’re asking Rep. Andy Kim to listen to labor and sign on to H.R. 1976, the Medicare for All Act of 2021, joining Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Donald Payne, Donald Norcross and Frank Pallone from the NJ delegation. We must take healthcare off the bargaining table, guarantee it as a right to all people, and allow unions to prioritize bargaining over other important issues like higher wages, pensions, and childcare,” added Carol Gay with the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council and a constituent of NJ-3.
Uniting in this call for Rep. Kim’s support for Medicare for All are unions, low-income workers, immigrant workers, and labor organizations, including: CWA Local 1032, CWA Local 1081, Teamsters Local 676, NJ State Industrial Union Council, UWUA Local, IFPTE Local 194, NJ 21 United, BMWED, AFT Local 2222 (Mercer Adjunct Faculty Union/Mercer County Community College), National Domestic Workers Alliance and New Labor.
The letter sent by unions and labor organizations to Rep. Kim can be read here:
