CWA supports ads on ‘the right way to pay for health reform’

Helping to fight the proposed tax on our benefits, CWA and its lobbying partner, the United Auto Workers, have financed a series of video and print ads.

The ads were produced by Health Care for America Now, a coalition of which CWA is a member. Other members of the coalition include labor, medical, professional and progressive organizations.

While not dropping its other priorities, CWA is focusing on the tax. A study by the research department shows that the proposed levy would become a large tax on the middle class. It would hit about 40 percent of health plans within six years, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The average impact on typical family plans of CWA members would be more than $19,000 in taxes over ten years, according to the report, or $1,900 a year.

While the tax would be directed at employers, the employers, in turn, would seek to cut benefits to avoid the extra costs, the report says. Employers can't cut our benefits unilaterally - they're protected by contract - but we can expect future bargaining to get even tougher.