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Authored by Jane Doe, released 6/10/2026
ABC for Health Staff Unionize to Preserve Crucial Community Resource
Authored by ABC Staff, released 5/29/2026
Madison, WI - Staff at local nonprofit law firm ABC for Health, Inc. (ABC) have unanimously decided to join the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), United Auto Workers Local 2320, with the overarching goal of strengthening the firm’s vital role in providing direct services to Wisconsinites who need help navigating the complicated healthcare financing system. Their staff are seeking input on the firm’s strategic planning and to establish employment policies that allow ABC workers to maintain a career in the nonprofit world without sacrificing their own financial stability.
ABC for Health is a Madison-based, nonprofit, public interest law firm that helps marginalized people all across Wisconsin facing health coverage and medical debt issues. Since ABC’s founding in 1994, ABC client services staff have helped tens of thousands of Wisconsinites obtain and maintain health coverage, overturn insurance denials for lifesaving treatments, and eliminate millions of dollars of crippling medical debt. ABC’s workers provide free legal services to help clients resolve issues that private attorneys won’t help with, like hospital financial assistance applications and BadgerCare appeals.
ABC staff announced their unanimous intent to unionize in an April 22 letter to ABC for Health’s Executive Director. ABC management has so far declined to voluntarily recognize the union, but staff remain open to reconsideration from management. “At the end of the day, we all know that our duty is to our clients,” says Tim Hennigan, who started at ABC as an intern in 2021 and is now the firm’s longest-tenured Staff Attorney. “Client services staff have a direct line to our clients because we work alongside them every day, and we see the problems they’re facing. We just want to make sure our voices – and our clients’ – are considered in the firm’s decision making.”
Staff at ABC for Health assist community members in a variety of ways, including helping them apply for public benefits, resolve medical billing errors, appeal insurance denials, and representing them in court if they are sued for medical debt. ABC workers also advocate for better healthcare policies such as improved hospital financial assistance and better enforcement of billing protections for Medicaid and BadgerCare members. “Our direct client work is what makes all of it possible,” says ABC Health Benefits Counselor Dani Wetter. “Since we work with clients from the very beginning of these issues, we see what’s really happening at the ground level, and that’s how we catch policies like the Birth Tax,” Wetter continued, referring to ABC staff’s role in the elimination of $67 million in unjust and inequitable Birth Cost Recovery debt in Milwaukee County.
“Our clients can’t take on big corporate interests by themselves,” notes ABC Staff Attorney Madeline Guthrie. “When we found out that less than 1% of Wisconsinites being sued for medical debt have representation, we jumped in the ring and started defending them against the relentless medical debt collections machine.” Readers can learn more about this on ABC’s website. ABC Staff Attorneys have successfully dismissed debt collection claims in the vast majority of recent cases and relieved clients of the massive financial and psychological burden of medical debt. Says Guthrie, “we want staff to feel assured that they can build a career sticking up for the underdog, so that ABC can keep fighting the good fight for another 30+ years.” “Our clients can’t take on big corporate interests by themselves,” notes ABC Staff Attorney Madeline Guthrie. “When we found out that less than 1% of Wisconsinites being sued for medical debt have representation, we jumped in the ring and started defending them against the relentless medical debt collections machine.” Readers can learn more about this on ABC’s website. ABC Staff Attorneys have successfully dismissed debt collection claims in the vast majority of recent cases and relieved clients of the massive financial and psychological burden of medical debt. Says Guthrie, “we want staff to feel assured that they can build a career sticking up for the underdog, so that ABC can keep fighting the good fight for another 30+ years.”
ABC staff have petitioned the NLRB for a formal election, but remain willing to withdraw that petition should management voluntarily recognize the union. “As a nonprofit, ABC is here to serve the public interest, and everything we do to help Wisconsin families stems from our direct client services,” says Hennigan. “I think everyone at ABC has the same primary goal: keeping ABC’s client services available to marginalized Wisconsin families. There’s no ABC without client services, and there are no client services without us.”
This communication was prepared by the non-management staff at ABC for Health and may not represent the views of ABC management. Please contact Madeline Guthrie at madelinedguthrie@gmail.com with any press inquiries.