[lbo-talk] Wal-Mart, Medicaid, and Unions

[Michael Hoover]

>>> furuhashi.1 at osu.edu 10/26/05 10:45 PM >>>
Wouldn't unions that specialize in organizing low-wage workers like  
Wal-Mart workers be better off if they helped all poor to sign up for  
and defend Medicaid (in the short term), fought like hell for  
publicly-funded universal health care (in the medium term), and  
focused organizing and bargaining efforts on other issues like wages,  
hours, conditions, and dignity (always)?
Yoshie Furuhashi
<<<<<>>>>>

bargaining for health care coverage is not issue for labor movements
in countries with national health service, given state of health
insurance...

it's kinda hard to believe that nhs was pretty vigorously debated u.s. 
during 1930s & 1940s, both afl and cio actively pushed it...

confluence of several strands of anti-labor politics in early cold war
had effectively blocked introduction by time truman proposed it as
part of his 1948 prez campaign (some have suggested he did so as
electoral ploy knowing that he wouldn't have to actually make good
on pledge)...

in any event, some large corporations initiated 'group' insurance 
programs, unions opted for ways to draw such coverage into 
collective bargaining process, understandable, i guess, given
inability to get universal public care...

by doing so, however, organized labor essentially ceded control of 
health insurance and delivery of medical treatment to employers...

given present situation, unions might consider return to operating their 
own clinics as number of them did from early to mid-20th century...
michael hoover

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