Organizing for CalCare is easy. Everyone wants health care!

Our goal is to get as many Hollywood workers educated and organized to support CalCare as possible. The private health insurance industry has infinite money. The only thing we have is The People. We are our only weapon. Our numbers. This means we must engage with our union siblings, our coworkers on sets, at agencies, studios, and production companies - union or non-union - to bring them into the campaign. Democrat or Republican, CalCare will benefit their lives, and so they must join the fight to pass it. Because the truth is, it’s not going to pass if they don’t! The private insurance industry has more power over California Democrats than we do now. But we can change that if we grow in size and strength.

Sign our petition:https://forms.gle/H3q7jjegjKvd4JpU6

Sign the California Nurses Association’s petition so you can receive direct campaign updates and/or get involved organizing your community outside of your Hollywood union: https://act.medicare4all.org/signup/calcare-mfa/

Follow and share us on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/hollywood4calcare/

Email Hollywood4CalCare@gmail.com. We can connect you to an ongoing campaign within your union or help you start one!

This is how you educate and organize union members:

- Arrange a Hollywood4CalCare/CNA CalCare presentation for union committees, TV and film crews, and workplaces with the goal of educating as many Hollywood workers as possible about CalCare.

- Seek out leaders (officially elected or just natural/popular) to advocate for CalCare within their networks.

- Organize union-specific CalCare town halls with CNA representatives and local CalCare-supporting lawmakers.

- Participate in legislative visits with Assemblymembers and State Senators so constituents can directly urge their representatives to cosponsor and vote YES on CalCare. Develop a longterm relationship with your rep! (Look up your reps now! Get to know their stances on issues you care about! https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/)

- Establish a CalCare Committee within your union.

- Seek official union endorsements for CalCare from all I.A.T.S.E. locals, SAG-AFTRA, the WGAW, the DGA, Teamsters Local 399, LiUNA! Local 724, and the AFM.

But first: become familiar with CalCare so you can feel comfortable advocating for it.

CNA’s CalCare talking points.

CNA’s CalCare linktree.

Check out the results from Gavin Newsom’s “Healthy California for All Commission” that studied single-payer between 2019 and 2022 and found that transitioning to a single-payer system will save California billions of dollars.

SEND THIS EMAIL to your friends and colleagues:

Hi [COLLEAGUE/FRIEND],

I’m reaching out on behalf of Hollywood4CalCare, a group of Hollywood workers organizing our unions to support #CalCare: a policy bill that would establish a Medicare for All-type health care system in California. You might recognize us from our website, Instagram, petition, or from the union endorsements we helped secure for the 2024 CalCare bill, AB 2200, from IATSE Locals 705 and 871. 

My group is working to get [OUR UNION] to join the long list of unions that endorse this critical policy. Hollywood workers really need CalCare!

Why? CalCare would:

  1. Give California the single largest advantage in the fight to bring work home. While a tax incentive allows us to compete with other states, a statewide universal health care system would allow us to compete with countries that provide health care to their citizens. Our private health insurance system is driving global tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Disney out of the country.

  2. Allow our union contract negotiators to focus on other pressing issues our members care about, like rates, jurisdictions, job classifications, and working conditions. Under our current system, they spend half the time in the negotiating room fighting for our increasingly (and uncontrollably) expensive health insurance plans.

  3. Free up our members to take better jobs and negotiate for better rates because we would no longer be beholden to our employers for health care.

We are organizing union members to urge [OUR UNION] to:

  1. Develop a relationship with the sponsors of CalCare, the California Nurses Association (CNA).

  2. Participate in a Hollywood4CalCare/CNA town hall for union members to learn more about the benefits of single-payer health care for the union.

  3. Pass a resolution to support / officially endorse CalCare.

  4. When the next CalCare bill is introduced, coordinate with CNA, the Cal Labor Fed, and other leading CA unions to coordinate a mass campaign to get the legislature to finally pass this policy.

I’d love your support on this critical issue facing our state and our industry. If you’re interested in getting involved with our campaign, please sign and share this petition with your network. Our current for-profit health insurance system is driving productions out of California, weakening our unions, bankrupting patients, and making us sick. A better future is possible, but CalCare isn’t going to pass without a loud and passionate demonstration of support from Hollywood.

Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

In Solidarity,

[Hollywood4CalCare Member]