Labor leaders worry the bill would invalidate their collective bargaining leverage around health plans, thereby nixing the city’s roughly $1,500-per-employee contribution to individual union funds. | Getty Images City unions say they dread impact of single-payer proposal in Albany

Public-sector unions are gearing up to fight legislation that would establish New York State as the health insurance provider for all residents, worried the sweeping bill would curtail their benefits and negotiating power.

New York City labor leaders gathered in the Lower Manhattan offices of District Council 37 Monday to relay their concerns about the bill to its sponsors, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, several sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The conflict puts unions at odds with an issue popular in the liberal wing of the Democratic party.


The lawmakers say they are now revising the legislation to address the unions' concerns, namely that the city’s insurance options for its 380,000-employee workforce would not be reduced. City government offers some plans that cover virtually all employee costs, but the Albany bill has a provision that would charge workers a portion of the state tax used to pay for the $311 billion initiative.

Labor leaders also worry the bill would invalidate their collective bargaining leverage around health plans, thereby nixing the city’s roughly $1,500-per-employee contribution to individual union funds. Those accounts cover a variety of expenses, including prescription drugs, hearing aids and glasses.

“Each union sets up its own welfare fund plan and it’s funded through the contributions, and if you don’t have the contributions, you don’t have the welfare fund,” Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, said on Wednesday.

He was present at the meeting, which he estimated 150 people attended.

Gottfried said he and Rivera reached out to the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group representing city unions, to collaborate on the bill.

“As Gustavo and I keep telling them, this is what our parents raised us to do. We were not raised to screw city workers. Or any workers,” Gottfried said.

The new legislation would ensure employers continue their current rates of coverage, he said. The bill would also end up providing more than city workers currently receive, he added: “More services covered, more prescription drugs covered and when the bill is reintroduced in 2019, it will be broadened even more."

“There will be no deductibles or co-pays, there will be no restrictive network and no out-of-network charges,” Gottfried added.

And any savings the city incurs — which he estimates would total $10 billion a year in reduced Medicaid expenses and payroll taxes — would replenish a fund partially controlled by unions under the proposal.

The bill has passed the Assembly for four consecutive years, but has languished in the GOP-controlled Senate. With Democrats taking control of the chamber in January and health care a top voting issue across the country, he and Rivera believe the measure stands a better chance.

It will still be a challenge to convince Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take on such a costly initiative, which would require federal funding and a state tax increase. The state would have to raise $139 billion in new tax revenue each year to pay for the plan, according to a RAND Corporation report released this year.

“It’s a conversation we have yet to have in the Senate,” Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the newly-appointed leader of the legislative body, said in a radio interview Wednesday. “I can certainly commit to having it heard, having it talked about.”

Harry Nespoli, head of the Municipal Labor Committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

Bill Hammond of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy predicted an uphill battle, saying it's "really complicated" and "really expensive" and would "potentially compromise the state's economy."

“It would become a health plan with a state government attached," he added.

Bill Mahoney contributed to this report.