507 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Paper Session. The Labor Market and Social Provision: Implications for Worker Health and Organizing

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

This panel examines trends of health insurance coverage, population health, and organizing in an aging workforce. Findings confirm a persistent black-white disparity in poverty and employer-based health care coverage. An analysis of country-level data also examines the relationship between union density, political power, and the construction of social policy, with implications for population health. The marketization of healthcare has had implications for worker organizing, blurring the distinction between professional associations and traditional labor unions. Despite an aging workforce, data from the Australian context also reveal that employers make strategic decisions to retain potential retirees, in order to avoid investment in younger less skilled workers. Overall, this panel reaffirms the limits to market-based responses to population change and social provision.

Sub Unit

• Section on Labor and Labor Movements / Open Topic on Section on Labor and Labor Movements (4 sessions)

Session Organizer

• Shannon Marie Gleeson, Cornell University

Presider

• Martha Ecker, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Individual Presentations

• Between Class and Profession: Healthcare Labor Organizations and the Marketization of Care in California - Pablo U. Gaston, University of California-Berkeley

• Labor Market Segmentation, Race, and Health Insurance Coverage - Kenneth Hudson, University of South Alabama; Andrea Hudson, University of South Alabama; Marcellus Hudson, University of South Alabama; Alan Akira, University of South Alabama; Errol Crook, University of South Alabama

• Will Retiring Workers Provide Job Opportunities for the Young? An Australian Case Study - Darryn Snell, RMIT University; Victor Oyaro Gekara, RMIT University