Why Did Labor Leaders Vote Against Medicare for All in the Middle of a Pandemic?
Earlier this week, four labor leaders voted against including Medicare for All in the Democratic Party platform — a slap in the face to millions of Americans struggling through an unprecedented pandemic. We need a union movement that fights for all workers, both organized and unorganized.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten speaks to the audience at the union’s annual convention on July 13, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
On Monday, the platform committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted 125-36 not to include Medicare for All in the party’s platform.
Faced with a pandemic that has revealed the catastrophic irrationalities of the United States’s profit-driven health care system, it’s sad, but not surprising, that the billionaire-bought Democratic Party establishment remains more loyal to HMOs than working people.
But among those who voted no on Medicare for All were also four prominent national union presidents: Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Lily Eskelsen Garcia of the National Education Association (NEA), Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Lonnie Stephenson of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
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