Blumenthal & Colleagues Introduce Bill to Prevent Companies from Retaliating Against Striking Workers & Terminating their Health Care

[HARTFORD, CT] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joined colleagues in introducing a bill to protect striking workers from their employers terminating their health care benefits. The Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act would protect workers’ health care benefits and prevent employers from using their power to cancel or alter health insurance for workers exercising their right to strike. Last month, striking workers at Pratt & Whitney were cut off from their health insurance before ultimately signing a new four-year contract.

“Corporations retaliate against striking workers who are fighting for better pay and safer working conditions by stripping them and their families of the health insurance they rely on. This is a cruel and callous intimidation tactic used across the country and in Connecticut just a few weeks ago at Pratt & Whitney. I’m proud to support this bill that evens the playing field so striking workers are not forced to decide between a fair contract or their health care,” said Blumenthal.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) establishes workers’ right to strike as a protected activity, and employees cannot be fired for striking. But employers can, and often do, threaten to cut workers’ healthcare as a tactic to end the strike and intimidate workers. The bill would create a separate unfair labor practice category for when employers cut or alter workers’ health insurance while they are on strike or locked out, and violators would be subject to increasing levels of civil penalties.

The Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act is led by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

The legislation is supported by the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Communications Workers of America (CWA), United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), International Association of Iron Workers (IW), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), Transport Workers Union (TWU), Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, National Education Association (NEA) International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), and NewsGuild-CWA.

The full text of this legislation is available here.

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