By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

ACT-UAW Local 7902 teachers at The New School and Parsons School of Design have overwhelmingly authorized a strike — and unsurprisingly, stagnant wages and astronomical healthcare costs are central issues surrounding the looming job action.

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, Parsons teacher and union representative Tamar Samir tells host Bob Hennelly “We need universal healthcare and unions need to be advocating and fighting for it.”

Later in the show, radio personality and former New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Arne Arnesen says, “If you really want to protect public sector workers make sure all of us gets healthcare.”

Listen below for the whole episode, including New York State Senator Jessica Ramos, chair of the New York State Senate Labor Committee, who talks about the essential role unions played in helping Democrats win in the midterm elections — as well as her party’s diversity problem.