Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduces a bill to protect striking workers.
The Democrat says the Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act would prevent employers from canceling or altering the health insurance of workers exercising their right to strike.
Members of the United Auto Workers union at Cummins in Oshkosh have been striking since March and did have their health insurance terminated by their employer.
Meriter nurses in Madison faced a similar threat before they reached a contract agreement to end a brief strike last week.
Brandon Campbell, director of the UAW regional office that covers Wisconsin, says the bill should be a bipartisan slam dunk, but only Democrats, including Dick Durbin of Illinois, have signed on as co-sponsors in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Campbell says all workers, not just union ones, lose when employers can threaten workers’ health care benefits to “keep them under thumb.”
