Labor Unions Shift Health Care Responsibilities
Seattle's Typographical Union votes to cut its internal sick-benefit clause, moving toward a regional relief organization model.
At a meeting of the local assembly of the International Typographical Union held yesterday afternoon a new constitution and by-laws were adopted, which go into effect today. The most important difference is that the new constitution does away with the relief clause granting $8.50 per week to sick members. The abolition of the relief clause is with the intention of substituting a relief organization separate from the union, but confined to its members, to cover the whole of the eighth district, composed of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.
“The abolition of the relief clause contained in the former constitution is with the intention of substituting a relief organization separate from the union.”
The transition from local union-run sick pay to a broader regional relief model reflects the early, pragmatic struggles of organized labor to secure stable healthcare safety nets for workers before state-mandated protections existed.
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