Special Industry Report: Health Care

Staffing that supports quality patient care, emergency service where and when it's needed, affordable health care for all — these are the issues that CWA nurses, health care members and activists are fighting for in their communities and on the state and national levels.

In upstate New York, CWA locals and community activists are mobilizing to keep emergency rooms and critical health care facilities open. In New Jersey, CWA nurses, members of New Jersey Nurses Union Local 1091, are fighting to make sure that hospitals provide the proper staffing needed for quality patient care.

Among the issues critical to health care workers: keeping their union voice in the wake of Labor Board decisions that would strip professionals of their workplace rights and safeguarding quality jobs that ensure quality patient care.

Health care also is the issue that dominates collective bargaining — in every round of negotiations, nearly all employers today look to cut benefits and shift costs, for both active and retired members.

A national solution to the health care crisis is the only way to make sure that all Americans — working and retired — have the health care they need. U.S. businesses that provide quality health care benefits now face a growing competitive disadvantage at home and abroad, forced to compete with companies that shift their responsibilities to others. Only real reform will solve these problems and provide a fair system for all.