Massachusetts Democrats lead effort to limit public unions power to negotiate health care benefits.

Unions in Familiar Fight With New Foe
Massachusetts Democrats Lead Effort to Curb Health-Benefits Negotiations
By KRIS MAHER and AMY MERRICK
April 30, 2011

Unions are facing off against an unlikely foe over a now-familiar issue, as Democrats in Massachusetts move to limit municipal workers' power to negotiate their health benefits.

The effort is the latest by lawmakers in a budget jam to roll back public-union rights. In a state where Democrats control the House and the Senate as well as the governor's office, it shows how the pressures of skyrocketing health care costs on state and local budgets are undermining labor's political clout even in traditional union strongholds.

The unions are fighting back with a campaign against the proposal. "We're going to increase the intensity and get more people engaged in the process," said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

The labor federation, which represents about 175,000 municipal workers in Massachusetts who would be affected by the proposal, has run radio ads and turned out thousands of police, firefighters and teachers to rally at the statehouse over the past week. It plans to push those efforts further and increase lobbying of individual lawmakers over the next month.

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