For years now labor unions have been repeatedly asking the White House and Congress to fix major aspects of Obamacare as the legislation continues to kill off the American 40-hour work week. Due to new regulations, companies continue to cut worker hours in order to avoid reaching the 50 full-time employee Obamacare threshold requiring a business to provide health insurance through government exchanges. Last summer major labor leaders Jimmy Hoffa, President of the TEAMSTERS, UFCW President Joseph Hansen and UNITE-HERE President D. Taylor sent the White House a scathing letter about the dire situation Obamacare has forced onto workers and slamming President Obama for failed promises about keeping healthcare plans.
Now nearly one year later, union leaders are wrestling with employers about who should pay for extra Obamacare costs.
Disputes between unions and employers over paying for new costs associated with the Affordable Care Act are roiling labor talks nationwide.
Unions and employers are tussling over who will pick up the tab for new mandates, such as coverage for dependent children to age 26, as well as future costs, such as a tax on premium health plans starting in 2018. The question is poised to become a significant point of tension as tens of thousands of labor contracts covering millions of workers expire in the next several years, with ACA-related cost increases ranging from 5 percent to 12.5 percent in current talks.
Lets not forget labor unions were the biggest cheerleaders for Obamacare simply because the legislation was being championed by a Democrat. Like Nancy Pelosi, union leaders took the "pass it to find out what's in it" approach and now they're finding Obamacare is detrimental to workers and their paychecks. The costs of Obamacare aren't new, conservatives and Republicans have been warning about the devastating effects of the law on the 40-hour work week and an increase in healthcare costs since the legislation was singed into law in 2010. It's time for the labor unions to lie in the bed they made by taking on extra Obamacare costs they blindly supported for political reasons.