Gallego Introduces Bill Allowing Strikers to Retain Healthcare Benefits

Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) are introducing legislation prohibiting employers from stripping healthcare benefits from striking workers.

Sen. Gallego's Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act ends a common practice by employers to threaten strikers with revoking or modifying the company's healthcare benefits, a tactic that circumvents the National Labor Relations Act's (NLRA) ruling that striking is a protected activity.

Specifically, the bill adds the removal of healthcare benefits as a separate category of unfair labor practices and increases civil penalties for employers who engage in such practices.

"Cutting off a worker's health insurance during a strike is not negotiation; it's a retaliation, and it's unacceptable," said Sen. Gallego in his press release, adding, "This bill makes sure that workers have the freedom to organize without having their families' health held over their heads. No one should be punished for standing up for better working conditions."

Similarly, Sen. Baldwin said, "Every Wisconsin worker deserves to be treated with dignity and respect on the job. When employers fail to keep their end of that bargain, workers also have the right to strike for fair pay and safe working conditions."

"But, too often, big employers don't like that and use their power to retaliate against workers and go after their health care benefits, forcing workers to decide whether to fight for their dignity in the workplace or health care for their family," Sen. Baldwin continued. "Our bill simply ensures employers cannot bully striking employees into accepting an unfair deal by withholding health benefits workers and their families were promised."

The Arizona Senator's bill comes on the heels of his recent demand for answers on why the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sought to cancel the lease for its Phoenix office, saying, "The office is vital for workers who seek to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to collectively join together to bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces."

"As we have seen with regard to DOGE's chaotic and ill-informed prior actions, lease cancelations sometimes lay the groundwork for future reductions in force," Gallego continued. "Both actions would have a devastating impact on the growing number of workers seeking to exercise their rights under the NLRA."