Health insurance is a critically important benefit to union members. Health insurance costs continue to skyrocket and employers continue to shift costs onto workers. The issue of health insurance can either build the union or bleed the union.

Brendan Sharkey has been pushing back against employers' efforts to shift costs onto union members for over 20 years. He has served as the lead negotiator for the teachers' unions and other municipal unions at the bargaining table. He has negotiated agreements pursuant to G.L. c.32B, section 19, sections 21-23 and through the tradition c.150E process. He has represented Public Employee Committees at arbitration. Brendan provided training to staff and union leaders at the MTA on the issue of health insurance and health insurance bargaining. Brendan has also provided health insurance bargaining training to two other large public-sector unions in Massachusetts.

Unions have selected Brendan to serve as the union representative on G.L. c.32B, sections 21-23 Review Panels. He also served as a labor representative on the Mayflower Municipal Health Group steering committee and as the MTA staff liaison to the Group Insurance Commission. Brendan has been invited to speak on the issue of health insurance bargaining at the 2017 Blue Cross Blue Shield Labor Conference and the 2015 Public Sector Labor Relations Conference at Harvard Law School.