On Thu, 4 Dec 2008, Jenny Brown wrote:
> Unfortunately this doesn't mean much. It's progress that they're
> talking about it as a version of Medicare, but the AFL-CIO has made
> noises about supporting single-payer since the early '90s. As soon as
> some Kennedy-Obama mess comes up, they'll be on board, over the
> objections of the California Nurses Association.
I can't say I'd bet against that. But FWIW, part of what led me to this statement was the original speech I posted by Damon Silvers. I'm told he's one of the AFL-CIO's top guys on economics and strategy, and a key plank in his WITBD section was that unions needed both a health care system and a pension system that was independent of employers. And that seems like a bright line defining single payer, and dividing the AFL from from Change to Win.
Which is not to deny they'll support whatever they can get if it's better than what we have. But isn't that the Labor Party's strategy too nowadays?
Michael