Outside of wages, health care costs are the most expensive item on the bargaining table. Disputes over coverage are the biggest cause of strikes, lockouts, and concessionary bargaining. The share of health care costs paid by American workers has gone up every year since 1982. This workshop will discuss long-term trends in health care bargaining, how Trump policies have increased the pressure on decent union-negotiated benefits, and what some unions are doing to gain bargaining leverage on this issue and build community support for the right to decent health care.
