Why are these labor unions opposing Medicare for All?

Unions against the New York Health Act have joined a new initiative called “Realities of Single Payer”

By Natalie Shure –  December 24 2018

 

For seven years, healthcare activists in New York have been pushing the New York Health Act, a single-payer bill that would provide statewide universal health coverage. Hopes for the bill’s chances were buoyed this year, as a new class of Democrats won election to the state legislature. But now the plan’s path forward could be called into question, thanks to opposition from labor unions in the state.

A recent Politico story reports that several New York City municipal unions, part of an umbrella group called the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, have serious qualms about the bill. Together, city unions represent some 380,000 public employees. Meanwhile, a number of more conservative unions — including the The New York State Building & Construction Trades Council and the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York — are outright opposing the proposal. These unions have joined a new initiative called “Realities of Single Payer” — backed by a coalition of healthcare industry and business groups — that seeks to kill the legislation….

Read more:

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/24/why-are-these-labor-unions-opposing-medicare-for-all_partner/