- Butch Ware for Governor
- Posts
- Labor Day Digest: Healthcare is a Right, Not a Racket.
Labor Day Digest: Healthcare is a Right, Not a Racket.
No Premiums. No Copays. No Excuses.
Butch Ware For Governor
September 01, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Excerpt from the poem, A Labor Devotional by Jahangira Moinuddin (Volunteer, Butch Ware for Governor 2026)
Friends,
This Labor Day, we remember that every right we have as workers was fought for. From the 8-hour day to weekends, none of it came easy and none of it is guaranteed. More than a paycheck, labor is dignity, survival and love for our families. When one chain rattles, we all feel it. This week, we share stories, songs and struggles that remind us: California’s future belongs to workers, not corporations.
👀 In This Week’s Digest
The Fight for Healthcare: why universal care is the single most impactful change for California’s workers.
Why Workers Want Something New: nearly half of Democratic voters say a third party is necessary.
Podcast Spotlight: Dr Ware on Union or Bust: breaking the duopoly with a labor-first plan.
Songs of Solidarity: from De Colores to Dolly’s 9 to 5, music that powers the fight for dignity.
Our Movement is Growing: supporter reflections shared from our Frantz Fanon & The Psychology of Liberation weekend seminar
Before we dive into our weekly digest, we need to level with you.
Last week, POLITICO shut Dr Ware out of their Sacramento Summit, despite his standout performance at the SEIU Governor’s debate where he outshone “leading candidate” Katie Porter. That’s not journalism. That’s the establishment working overtime to silence people-powered campaigns.
Your donation breaks their blackout - funding grassroots organizing, digital outreach, and keeping Dr Ware’s voice where they want it silenced.
👉 Setup your recurring donation today. Claim your seat at the table and help shape California’s future.
🎙️ What We’re Talking About
Podcast Feature: Union or Bust #43 - Dr Butch Ware for California Governor
Dr Ware sat down with Union or Bust to talk about his labor-first plan to break California’s duopoly - universal healthcare to free up bargaining, real strike protections and redirecting homelessness funds from NGOs to direct support.
🏥 The Fight for Healthcare
The single most impactful thing to improve the lives of California workers would be universal healthcare, free at the point of service.
No premiums. No copays. No deductibles.
Every study shows this saves money. Who funds you runs you, and Democrats have failed California’s workers.
Reports from the Healthy California for All Commission … estimate that the present system … will cost an estimated $323–$496 billion more in 2031 than would a single-payer system covering everybody. That means every Californian adult and child would pay $8,000–$12,000 more for health care than we should.
A 2020 Lancet study found that Medicare for All could save $450 billion annually and prevent 68,000 deaths per year. ↗︎
📊 Why Workers Want Something New
From Newsweek (June 2025):
Nearly half of Democratic voters say a third party is necessary in the US - proof that Californians are ready for real alternatives. Disillusionment is real. Our campaign is meeting that moment.
🧩 Work, But Make it Humane
This Labor Day, we’re pushing the conversation forward on:
→ Shorter Work Week: because burnout isn’t productivity 🤦♀️
→ Telework for Families: flexibility is a right, not a perk 😤
→ AI & Worker Protections: tech shouldn’t mean fewer jobs or weaker rights 💪
POLL: Should California Move to a 4-day work week?For decades, labor organizing gave us weekends and the 40-hour week. With burnout at historic highs, is it time for workers to push the next frontier? Answer below 👇 |
📲 TikTok That Hits Different
Watch: Victoria Hammett on workplace inequality
@victoriahammett Replying to @Peej like yeah I’ll vote for him if he’s the nominee but why does this 2015 repubIican have to be our nominee? lol
🎶 What We’re Listening To
Labor is politics and culture. Here’s what’s on our playlist this week:
🌱 Our Movement is Growing
Each week, we will spotlight reflections, testimonies and stories from supporters.
Kristen, who joined our Frantz Fanon & The Psychology of Liberation seminar, shared this reflection:
Yesterday's session was life changing, the final notes distinguishing rage and outrage was something that resonated to my core. I have been involved in justice actions since around 2012, raging and ranting as an extreme and then burning out, damaging relationships, shutting down and isolating on the flip side of that. I am so grateful for your voice and even keel and will be leaning into my own spirituality to help with better balance.
💬 What About You?
Reply to our newsletter with what you’re listening to, thoughts on the topics raised or how you’re celebrating Labor Day to feature in our upcoming publications.
Don’t forget to comment, like and share. Amplification is power.
✊ Take Action
Help us build a California where healthcare and housing are rights, not privileges.
Donate today
Volunteer with us
This Labor Day, we celebrate workers’ strength and remind the ruling class: California’s wealth belongs to all of us.
In Solidarity,
Team Butch Ware for Governor
Paid for by Butch Ware for Governor 2026
Reply