Unions vs. ObamaCare: labor breaks ranks.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Citings - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Brief article

OBAMACARE HAS an unlikely, and increasingly vocal, opponent: big labor.

Several smaller unions denounced the health law in 2013, and pressure from the AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the United States, mounted over the summer. The latter group's criticism culminated with a sharply worded resolution at its September convention.

The resolution, which passed just weeks before the health law's insurance exchanges opened for business, said that ObamaCare "should be administered in a manner that preserves the high-quality health coverage multi-employer plans have provided to union families for decades." If "this is not possible," the union added, "we will demand the [law] be amended by Congress." It was a strong rebuke of the law from a group that initially supported its passage and is closely linked with the Democratic Party.

According to The New York Times, the union was actually pulling...