NEA gambles with staff’s lives by threatening to strip workers of their healthcare
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, is shamefully using healthcare as a bargaining chip in negotiations with staff
It’s been a big year for Kate Hilts. She turned 30, earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University, and her longtime partner, Ross, proposed outside the renowned Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden near their home in Washington, D.C.
But instead of celebrating milestones and planning her wedding, Hilts is worried her employer, the National Education Association, will cut off her health insurance and access to lifesaving treatments she needs to prevent her kidneys from shutting down.
In less than two weeks, NEA will cut off healthcare for roughly 300 of its employees, members of the National Education Association Staff Organization, who have been locked out of work since July 8. It’s a move that flies in the face of NEA’s long-held principle that healthcare is a human right that shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip at the negotiations table. Now, Hilts, a senior digital strategist, must confront the terrifying prospect of going without her next treatment and the very real threat of kidney failure.
“I cannot afford to go without healthcare,” Hilts said at a virtual “Healthcare Is a Right” vigil held by NEASO.
‘I’m Not at All Ashamed of Having a Disability…I am Ashamed of NEA.’
At the vigil, Kate shared how her life suddenly changed when she noticed that her ankles were swelling and then her entire body. Within a couple of weeks, she’d swelled with 20 pounds of water weight, her skin so stretched and tight that she couldn’t sleep.
“My kidneys were shutting down,” she said.
She shuttled from provider to provider, getting dozens of tests pointing in scary directions, like blood cancer or lupus.
“But luckily, I had incredible healthcare, and after an ultrasound and a biopsy and a referral to an incredible nephrologist-slash-immunologist, I had a diagnosis of a rare, chronic illness, an autoimmune disease that specifically attacks my kidneys,” Hilts shared.
She began a robust treatment plan, and every few months, she goes to the chemotherapy ward at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., for infusions that take seven hours each visit.
After NEA illegally locked out its staff, and with the end of her healthcare access looming in two weeks, Hilts took to Google, as many do during health crises. She soon learned how much one dose of her infusion would cost out of pocket. The medication alone would cost $100,000.
Hilts has an appointment with her nephrologist next week. When it was scheduled, it was supposed to be a joyful meeting about her improving health and the success of her treatments.
“I’m feeling good, and I’m ready for my next infusion, which is supposed to be in August,” Hilts said. “Instead, I will have to ask my nephrologist how long we can safely delay treatment because NEA might take away healthcare.”
Through her tears, Hilts looked into the camera of her laptop and told her NEASO colleagues that she is not ashamed of having a disability.
“What I am ashamed of is NEA. They think they can bully people who rely on healthcare, people like me, into a bad contract. But I’m not falling for that.”
“ . . . I am ashamed of NEA. Cutting off healthcare out of retaliation is an action of deep, deep ableism. [NEA thinks] they can bully people like me who rely on healthcare into a bad contract, but I am not falling for that. I know we are not falling for that.”
Kate Hilts, NEASO Member
Activists Call on NEA to Respect Disability, Labor, and Union Rights
NEASO began negotiating a new contract with NEA in early April. As the nation’s largest labor union, NEA should be leading by example at the bargaining table. Instead, NEA has been dragging out negotiations, forcing NEASO to work on an expired contract. During negotiations, NEA has also racked up five Unfair Labor Practices—on everything from wage theft to refusing to share information about the millions of dollars it outsources.
NEA’s lockout is an illegal, retaliatory response to NEASO’s three-day Unfair Labor Practice strike earlier this month. In a July 7 letter, NEA Executive Kim Anderson announced that NEA would terminate NEASO members’ negotiated healthcare benefits by the end of the month. NEA’s shameful strong-arm intimidation is something that only the most anti-union employers use against their workers—and a bullying tactic that NEA itself has decried as foul. As a result, NEASO employees like Kate will lose their health insurance by the end of the month, putting lives in jeopardy.
Other NEASO members joined Kate at the vigil in sharing their stories. One is scheduled to have heart surgery next month and is unsure what will come from a delay. Another is expecting her first baby any day and can’t fathom having to search for a new healthcare provider while caring for a newborn and recovering from childbirth.
Disability rights activist Elijah Armstrong also spoke at the vigil. A photosensitive epileptic who had to sue his own high school for accommodations, Armstrong now dedicates his life to fighting for the rights of marginalized students in education, specifically for students with disabilities.
“One of the key tenets of disability justice is cross-movement solidarity,” he said. “Labor rights are a disability justice issue, and I am here…to ask the NEA to respect disability issues, labor issues, and union issues.”
Taking health insurance away from striking workers is an ableist, immoral and illegal shakedown tactic, Armstrong emphasized.
“Know that there are many disability activists that are standing with you,” he told NEASO members, adding that NEASO is standing up for what is right for themselves and for all working people.
“You are standing up for the right side,” Armstrong said. “Lead on!”
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