Sen. Wyden, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Protect Health Insurance of Striking Workers

WASHINGTON, May 25 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on May 24, 2022:

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today joined colleagues in introducing legislation that would ensure continued health coverage for workers, even during strikes and lock-outs.

The Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act would ensure that striking workers continue to receive health benefits earned and negotiated in their contracts by penalizing an employer for terminating the coverage of an employee's health insurance during a lock-out. The bill would create a separate unfair labor practice category, punishable by fines, for when employers cut off or alter workers' health insurance while workers are locked out.

"In this historic time when more workers are using their collective power for the benefits they deserve, it's time to level the negotiating playing field. That means the country's wealthiest corporations shouldn't be allowed to misuse continued health coverage via lockouts as unjust leverage to hold workers hostage," said Wyden, who also has co-sponsored two pieces of legislation to protect the right of workers to organize and end subsidies for corporate union busting. "This legislation would ensure workers aren't forced to sign unacceptable contracts in order to avoid losing health coverage for their families. Health coverage should be a given while they are fighting to secure better pay, better hours, and better working conditions."

The Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act has the support of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers (BCTGM), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Communications Workers of America (CWA), United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and International Association of Iron Workers (IW).

The legislation was led by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and along with Wyden was cosponsored by Senators Bob Casey, D-Pa., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.