UCW-CWA Local 3865 has consistently focused on the rising costs of health care being one of the primary reasons a living wage is needed NOW. As part of the Public, Health Care and Education Workers division of CWA, we play a special role in educating the public about the needs for a just health care system. One of the most compelling indicators of a family’s or individual’s standard of living is their access to adequate health services. Sadly, America’s working people are seeing their health care costs rises as their real wages decline, remain stagnant, or barely keep up.

In a 2004 Employer Health Benefits Survey, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that “between spring of 2003 and spring of 2004, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose by 11.2%, lower than the 13.9% increase in 2003 [...] Since 2000, premiums for family coverage have increased by 59%, compared with inflation growth of 9.7% and wage growth of 12.3%.”

Please keep up with this important area of the labor movement’s work as it develops and becomes a fighting force for America’s working families.