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Health Care Workers also threatened to strike saying corporations were trying to water down health care benefits or raise premiums. Union representatives and employees battled companies including Caterpillar and Boeing to keep health insurance payments down and the quality of care up, as the cost of health continues to rise. "We're passing the cost on to cities and state welfare programs that have to deal with health costs and people who can no longer work because of illness or injury," said Karen Nussbaum, a director with the AFL-CIO. Health benefits have become such an important issue for workers that the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that more than 75 percent of workers surveyed said they would prefer a $6,200 increase in health coverage from their employer to an identical boost in pay. But health care is not a universal benefit. "It is shocking the percentage of American workesr who have not health insurance," said Mark Brossman, a labor lawyer with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLT. "It is the great scandal that in the U.S. in 2004, so may have not benefits and, on top of that, are not making enough money to live," he added. |