Unions decry Trump shutdown, urge health care fix

October 21, 2025 by

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa member Tametria Johnson worries about the impact that cuts to Medicaid and expiring ACA subsidies will have on her family.

Using public-service workers as political pawns, President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress allowed the federal government to shut down Oct. 1 rather than negotiate with Senate Democrats over a mounting health care crisis.

As the shutdown extends into a fourth week, over 750,000 federal workers are locked out, furloughed or working without pay.

Trump and administration officials have made no attempt to hide their intent to use federal workers as leverage in the standoff. The president called it an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash payroll, and thousands of workers across multiple federal agencies had received reduction-in-force notices by mid-October.

The administration also floated a memo arguing furloughed workers were not entitled to back pay, flouting a law passed after the government shut down for 35 days in 2019.

Unions, led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), swiftly challenged both the firings and the memo, winning a temporary restraining order to block the reductions in force and threatening another lawsuit if the administration withholds back pay.

Still, the strain on federal workers and their families increases with each day the shutdown drags on, AFGE District 8 Vice President Ruark Hotopp said. District 8 represents over 19,000 federal workers in Minnesota and four other states.

“To be used as political footballs, to shut down the government and hold us hostage while many of our members are going without a paycheck – in many cases while they still perform their work – it’s just frustrating and maddening,” Hotopp, an immigration officer on leave while he works for his union, said. “People are feeling a lot of anxiety, a lot of uncertainty.

“But it’s par for the course with what we’ve been dealing with since January, with DOGE and (Office of Management and Budget Director) Russ Vought and Elon Musk, and agencies refusing to recognize our union contracts.”

Holding out for health care fix

While AFGE and other federal workers’ unions are calling for an immediate end to the shutdown, other labor unions have ramped up pressure on Trump and Republicans to negotiate a health-care fix with Senate Democrats as part of a spending bill.

Already, hospitals are bracing for a $900 billion cut to Medicaid coverage in the tax and spending bill Trump signed into law July 4, which will force providers to absorb billions in unpaid care costs.

Adding to the crisis, Trump and Republicans are set on allowing some tax credits that help people afford insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire Dec. 31. Over 22 million Americans, access the credits to make their health coverage more affordable.

MNsure, Minnesota’s ACA exchange, noted the impact of the expiring credits as it released rates and coverage options in advance of open enrollment beginning Nov. 1. Nearly 90,000 Minnesotans will pay more for coverage – on average, about $177 more each month – and another 20,000 will lose all financial assistance.

“These cuts would be a snowball that would be awful for so many families,” home care worker Tametria Johnson said during a press conference called by her union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, on Day 1 of the shutdown.

Johnson works as a caregiver for her developmentally disabled adult daughter, a service reimbursed by Medicaid funding, but she gets her own health coverage through the ACA exchange. She worries her family’s Medicaid benefits are in jeopardy at a time when her premiums are set to increase by over 20%.

“Many of us live paycheck to paycheck,” Johnson said. “When costs go up … something has to go – groceries, medicine, gas to go to work or appointments, utilities, cell phone. It’s very scary.”

Make a deal or take a stand?

Labor leaders and Senate Democrats have acknowledged the tension between fighting to lower health care costs for union members like Johnson and getting federal workers back on the job. But they agree that the blame lands squarely on the White House.

“Our livelihoods should not be used as pawns or bargaining chips, whether it is threatening one set of workers after another, canceling construction projects, or jacking up electricity prices on top of higher health insurance premiums,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler wrote in a letter to Trump sent Oct. 7.

“We implore you to meet with the leaders of the House and Senate to find a solution that funds the government, fixes the health care crisis and puts working people first.”

One thing AFGE’s Hotopp is sure of, he said, is that the Trump administration’s attacks on federal workers won’t end when the government reopens. He recalled the argument that convinced enough Senate Democrats to sign off on a Republican budget the last time Congress reached the brink of a shutdown, in March.

“What we heard then was, ‘We had to make a deal to save your jobs,’” Hotopp said. “Then we watched DOGE rip through our staffing, watched agencies rip away our unions. It didn’t save any jobs.

“To insinuate that if there weren’t a shutdown that they wouldn’t terminate people? That’s simply not the truth.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Dayton, Ellison celebrate Medicare’s 50th birthday with Minnesota Nurses

July 31, 2015 by
Nurses celebrated Medicare's 50th birthday with PIE, symbolic of the union's call to "protect, invest and expand" the popular health care program.

Nurses celebrated Medicare’s 50th birthday with PIE, symbolic of the union’s call to “protect, invest and expand” the popular health care program.

 

web.MNA-Medicare-nursesMedicare turned 50 years old yesterday, and Minnesota nurses celebrated by throwing President Lyndon B. Johnson’s landmark legislation a barbecue birthday bash in St. Paul.

More than 100 million people are enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans and also turned 50 yesterday. Together, the programs ensure seniors maintain health coverage after retiring and children receive the health care they need to avoid falling behind.

“Health care is a truly patriotic issue tied to our freedom,” Minnesota Nurses Association Executive Director Rose Roach said. “Are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness really possible when you don’t have your health?”

Doctors, patients and elected officials, including Gov. Mark Dayton and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, joined nurses in pledging to protect Medicare – and expand the popular health care program into a single-payer health plan covering all Americans.

“I don’t know if we’ll see single payer in my lifetime,” Dayton said. “But if we do, I hope it starts here in Minnesota.”

Rep. Ellison speaks at the nurses' celebration of Medicare's 50th anniversary.

Rep. Ellison speaks at the nurses’ celebration of Medicare’s 50th anniversary.

Ellison, a DFLer from Minneapolis, said he was proud to have supported the Affordable Care Act, passed during President Obama’s first term. “But deep down and in my heart of hearts,” Ellison added, “I have been and will always be a single payer person.”

The ACA increased access to the private health insurance market and allowed states, including Minnesota, to expand Medicaid eligibility for the working poor, extending coverage to an estimated 16.4 million Americans over the last 5 years.

But even in Minnesota, people are slipping through the cracks of the private insurance market. That’s why Ellison said he supports the American Health Security Act, introduce by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) in March. It would allow states to administer their own universal health insurance systems, subject to federal standards.

Ellison and Dayton agreed that the bill would empower Minnesota to set a course toward single payer, universal health care – one the rest of the nation could follow.

“That’s how Canada ended up with single payer,” Ellison said. “It wasn’t just one big national plan. It was Ottawa, then Saskatchewan, and it spread.”

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Franken earns HealthWORKS Hero Award for advocacy on behalf of Taft-Hartley funds

May 28, 2014 by
HealthWORKS Chair Jim Hynes (L) gives Sen. Al Franken a tour of the Health Fair after presenting the senator with the HealthWORKS Hero Award. (photo submitted)

HealthWORKS Chair James Hynes (L) gives Sen. Al Franken a tour of the Health Fair after presenting the senator with the HealthWORKS Hero Award. (photo submitted)

HealthWORKS, a new coalition of Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, presented U.S. Sen. Al Franken with an award at the annual “Health and Benefit Fair” held April 26 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The HealthWORKS Hero Award recognizes Franken’s advocacy on behalf of Taft-Hartley plans, industry-based health insurance funds that cover workers at multiple employers and are run jointly by labor and management.

Taft-Hartley plans, which cover hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans, are finding the regulatory landscape difficult to navigate in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, according to James Hynes, executive administrator of Pipe Trades Services Minnesota, the local Taft-Hartley fund that founded the HealthWORKS Coalition.

“These funds were just forgotten in the ACA,” Hynes said. “In the original 3,000 or so pages of the law, Taft-Hartley funds were mentioned six times, and that was mostly to say that further guidance will be coming. Well, we never got that guidance.”

Franken, a DFLer from Minnesota, co-authored the Health Care Fairness and Stability Act of 2014 with GOP Sen. Mary Kirk of Illinois. It would provide relief to Taft-Hartley funds, delaying by three years the collection of a “reinsurance fee” for each member covered in their plan, as mandated by the ACA.

The fee, which will come due in December if Franken’s bill does not become law, is $63 per participant in the health insurance pool. That means it falls not only on employees, but on their dependents as well. For the Minnesota Pipe Trades’ fund alone, it will amount to nearly $1 million.

A safety net for insurance companies

Where will that money go? The ACA created the “reinsurance” program to steady the cost of health care premiums by requiring insurance companies to pool together funds for emergency purposes – like when a person’s medical bills exceed the coverage levels anticipated by their insurer.

Unfortunately, the ACA requires Taft-Hartley funds and businesses that are self-insured to pay the fee, regardless of whether or not they will benefit from the reinsurance program.

“Essentially, it takes money from our members to put into a trust fund that insurance companies can access,” Hynes said.

In addition to delaying the collection of reinsurance fees from self-insured businesses and Taft-Hartley funds by three years, Franken’s bill would seek to pinpoint the actual cost of the reinsurance program, so that a more efficient and fair funding mechanism can be established.

“Franken came in and said let’s postpone this tax for three years until we find out what we really need,” Hynes said. “Do we know what the number is? No, we don’t. Is there a better way to fund it than on the backs of self-insured businesses and Taft-Hartley funds?”

Making the ACA work for Minnesotans

That leadership earned Franken the HealthWORKS Hero Award. The senator accepted the award at the Health and Benefit Fair, where HealthWORKS used its presence to urge members of Taft-Hartley plans to sign onto a petition of support for the Health Care Fairness and Stability Act, and to send thank-you notes to Franken and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a co-sponsor, for their support of the bill.

“My No. 1 concern is to make sure the Affordable Care Act works for the people of Minnesota. We need to keep moving forward and fix the things that aren’t working,” Franken said. “Businesses and workers all over Minnesota are concerned about this. Our bipartisan bill would provide relief to employers and workers, and it helps keep costs down for businesses across the country.”

HealthWORKS is quickly growing into a leading advocacy coalition for Taft-Hartley plans nationwide. The coaltion is also pushing for other amendments to the ACA, including language acknowledging the existence – and benefits – of multi-employer health funds, and relief for Taft-Hartley participants from penalties for not insuring their workers.

“If the employer is signed to a collective bargaining agreement and pays into a multi-employer health fund that meets the criteria of the ACA, that’s all they should need to do,” Hynes said.

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Union leaders applaud Supreme Court decision upholding Affordable Care Act

June 28, 2012 by

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson spoke at a rally for supporters of the Affordable Care Act in 2009.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, announced today, keeps the country moving toward a health care system that ensures affordable, high-quality coverage for all Americans, Minnesota’s union leaders said.

The court’s narrow, 5-4 decision to keep intact the landmark 2010 law, known as “Obamacare,” drew cheers from workers, retirees, students and other groups whose access to health care and prescription drugs has increased as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Shar Knutson, president of the 300,000-member Minnesota AFL-CIO, called it a “great day for working Americans” and said the decision “clears the way for millions of people to have the access to the affordable, high quality health care that had previously been denied.”

Knutson added: “Minnesota’s union members worked hard to make this law a reality, and we are pleased the court affirmed its constitutionality. Now that this issue has been settled, we are hopeful our elected leaders will come together to craft policies that get middle class Americans back to work.”

Knutson and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act pointed to several benefits of the law that Minnesotans will continue to enjoy as a result of the court ruling.

• Seniors with Medicare coverage are saving money on prescription drugs as a result of the new health care law. Minnesota’s seniors already have saved millions since the law passed, according to statistics from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

• Insurance companies may not deny coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, a provision that has made coverage accessible for hundreds of Minnesotans.

• Thousands of young adults, up to age 26, are able to stay on their parents’ insurance plans as they transition into the workforce. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statistics show that 35,000 Minnesotans have taken advantage of this provision of the Affordable Care Act.

“Seniors will continue to be spared from having to choose between paying for prescription drugs and putting food on the table,” Knutson said. “Parents can rest easier knowing their children are covered. Bankruptcies due to health care costs will soon become a thing of the past.”

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota President Julie Schnell, whose union represents thousands of workers in hospitals and care centers statewide, said the decision rejects the cynical, partisan idea that “we are all on our own” when it comes to our health.

“SEIU Healthcare Minnesota’s nurses, doctors, and caregivers know firsthand there’s no room for such extreme politics in the overall governance of our health care system,” Schnell said. “Justices made a decision that now is not the time to slow down the benefits of the law that is making health care more affordable.”

Health care advocates warned, however, that the ruling will not stop opponents of the Affordable Care Act from seeking to dismantle it in Congress. The House of Representatives, in fact, is scheduled to vote on repealing the law next month.

“Today is a tremendous victory for seniors, their children, and their grandchildren,” said Edward Coyle, director of the 4 million-member Alliance for Retired Americans. “But we cannot rest on our laurels. In the 2012 elections we cannot let politicians roll back the progress we have made.”

Others warned that more work remains in order to achieve a health care system that works for all Americans. Linda Hamilton, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, called the Affordable Care Act “an important first step,” but noted that an estimated 250,000 Minnesotans remain uninsured.

“As nurses, we don’t want to see a single patient suffering because he or she doesn’t have adequate and affordable health care coverage,” Hamilton said. “We need Medicare for all, and it’s our mission as nurses to keep this country moving toward that goal.”

Many unions will join a public celebration of the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act tomorrow in Minneapolis. The celebration is set to begin at 11 a.m. in Government Plaza. Click here for details.

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