Attacks on Medicaid and Labor

What’s Being Cut?

Congress wants to slash the federal budget by $2 trillion, including:

$880 billion from Medicaid, which funds (Read the full UNAC/UHCP Fact Sheet on Proposed Medicaid Cuts):

• Hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, mental health care, and home care services
• Food programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) and school lunches, hurting low-income families and kids.
• Education and workforce programs such as Pell Grants for college students, TANF (temporary cash help for working families), and IDEA (support for students with disabilities)

• Massive job losses like the plan to cut 80,000 jobs at the VA
• Hiring freezes at federal agencies across the country
• Veterans will suffer – both as patients and workers, since many of our members who provide care are veterans themselves.
• Cuts to Medicaid and health funding mean understaffed hospitals, burned out workers, and worsening care for our communities.

Attacks on Our Union Rights

These same voices pushing cuts to needed services are also pushing attacks on our right to unionize and bargain.

That means:

• Weakening our contracts
• Undermining our ability to fight for raises, benefits, and safety
• Making it harder for us to speak up at work

Budget cuts make bargaining tougher — and so do coordinated efforts to weaken unions.

Many of our employers depend on federal funding. These cuts will lead to:

• Worse staffing shortages (Read the UNAC/UHCP staffing report)
• Longer waits for access to care
• Less safety for patients and care providers
• Tougher contract negotiations for care improvements

The more they attack our right to bargain, we risk losing the power to fight back.