Wal-Mart, Unions, Others, Call for Universal Health Care
Retail giant Wal-Mart has been fervently anti-union but joins hands with two unions and others in an alliance to call for universal health care:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., AT&T Inc., Intel Corp. and Kelly Services Inc. joined forces with two labor unions in calling for an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system that would guarantee universal coverage by 2012.
46 million Americans don’t have health insurance, an all-time high. About 16% or 1 in 6 Americans. And each year about 18,000 Americans under 65 die due to a lack of health insurance. But back to the story…
[Service Employees International Union President Andrew] Stern said he and [Wal-Mart CEO] Scott met in person to discuss formation of the new alliance, which also includes the Communication Workers of America union, former Republican Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee and John Podesta, who heads the Center for American Progress, a Washington research group that supports Democratic policies.
The group’s diversity reflects the broad base of support for changing America’s health-care system, Stern said. For example, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has opposed attempts to unionize its stores while San Antonio, Texas-based AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, is the largest employer of union workers.
Elsewhere, the skies ran blood-red, the lion and the lamb lay down together, and four horsemen of the apocalypse have been spotted.
If you want more than the Bloomberg story linked above, here is the story from McClatchy and CNN Money.
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This is just common sense.
The unions want universal health care for obvious reasons (if every worker has health care, unions can focus on bargaining for other benefits or higher wagers).
Wal-Mart should have done something like this years ago. As the largest retailer, they are the main target of criticism for poor health care benefits (or no health care benefits) for workers while competitors get away with providing health plans that are even worse. With a universal health care system, a powerful argument can be taken away from Wal-Mart’s critics, and Wal-Mart’s competitors will carry an equal share of the health care burden.
With universal health care Wal-Marts wins, unions win, and more importantly America wins.
Comment by Anonymous — February 8, 2007 @ 6:15 am
“Elsewhere, the skies ran blood-red, the lion and the lamb lay down together, and four horsemen of the apocalypse have been spotted.”
You know, I saw that lion and lamb too, but I figured it was dinnertime. I am stunned that Wal-Mart would propose universal coverage, but I guess we have to take our allies where we can find them.
Comment by Kathy — February 8, 2007 @ 8:51 am