Page 3 - Work Force April 2022

Plenary addresses New York Health Act concerns
MONTICELLO — CSEA members have been hearing from our union for months about concerns related to the proposed New York Health Act.
During a plenary session that wrapped up the recent Southern Region Officers Weekend, two state lawmakers from the Hudson Valley and a health care expert took a deep dive into the topic to help CSEA activists better understand why the proposed legislation is problematic.
“We agree that all New Yorkers deserve access to affordable quality health care, but the proposed New York Health Act undermines decades of collective bargaining and could potentially drive quality health care providers out of our state,” said Southern Region President Anthony Adamo.
Knowing that there are concerns on both sides of the aisle, Adamo invited Republican Sen. Mike Martucci and Democrat Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski to speak to activists attending the region conference.
Joining Martucci and Zebrowski on the panel was Matt Leonardo, an
attorney with the firm of Hinman Straub, P.C. who is an expert on health insurance. CSEA Political Action Coordinator Chris Ludlow moderated the discussion.
Among the concerns was the fact that the legislation is short on details and tasks the state Department of Health with actually fleshing out a program if the bill is signed into law.
While there are no exact costs available at this time, Zebrowski noted that studies have estimated the cost of the New York Health Act could double the state budget.
Of the roughly 20 million
residents living in New York State, approximately 19 million are insured. Finding a plan to help that remaining 1 million is feasible without forcing the rest of New Yorkers off their current plans.
Martucci said a solution requires the precision of a scalpel to help those 1 million rather than the chainsaw approach.
“The New York Health Act is a chainsaw,” Martucci said.
Leonardo noted that the New York Health Act cannot be compared to the universal coverage in places
State Sen. Mike Martucci, right, addresses his concerns about the proposed New York Health Act during a plenary session at the recent Southern Region Officers Weekend. Joining Martucci in raising concerns about the legislation are Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski, far left, and attorney Matt Leonardo of the firm Hinman Straub, P.C.
CSEA joins labor in standing with Ukraine
CSEA has joined the global labor movement in condemning the ongoing attacks and invasion by
Russia into Ukraine, which, as this edition was going to press, are increasingly devastating Ukraine and its citizens.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan said. “We also joined our international union AFSCME in supporting the prudent divestment of public pension fund assets from investments with ties to Russia,
and recently made a contribution
to provide aid to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”
CSEA’s International union, AFSCME, has also taken action in
support of Ukraine.
AFSCME’s International Executive
Board, on which Sullivan, CSEA Executive
Vice
President
Denise
Berkley and
CSEA Capital
Region
President
Ron Briggs
serve as
International
Vice
Presidents,
recently
passed a resolution that expressed solidarity with the people of Ukraine,
condemned Russia’s aggressive attacks and supports economic
sanctions toward Russia.
CSEA and
AFSCME
are also supporting the prudent divestment of public pension fund assets from investments with ties to Russia.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
announced in early March that the
such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel. Those are nationwide plans, while reimbursement
rates with the New York Health
Act could tempt providers to flee to neighboring states such as Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in search of higher reimbursements.
Also noted when discussing the possible doubling of the state budget was the fact that roughly 20 percent of taxes paid in New York State come from bonuses paid out to financial industry workers on Wall Street. Doubling the tax burden could cause many of those individuals to leave
the state.
For members of CSEA and other
unions, health insurance is a major component in the overall collective bargaining process. Many bargaining units in our union have opted to forego larger wage increases in exchange for maintaining robust health insurance coverage offered at an affordable rate.
Should health care be taken
over by the state, a major part of our overall contract negotiations would disappear and undermine our bargaining strength.
— Jessica Ladlee
New York State Common Retirement Fund will be prohibited from making new investments into Russian companies, and will review current investments to assess whether they present financial risks that warrant further restrictions or divestment.
Hundreds of American businesses have also withdrawn from Russia. However, many more businesses continue to do business in the country, including, at press time, Koch Industries.
To see a list of business that have withdrawn, suspended operations or are continuing to operate, visit: https://tinyurl.com/companies- withdrawn
April 2022
The Work Force 3