“Political Animal” Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly and Paul Krugman of the New York Times (subscription required) yesterday both made reference to the economic importance of American national healthcare for General Motors (and business in general) - and how business has failed to support it.
Kevin Drum writes,
“Hmmm, I wonder if there are any other ways for multinational corporations to control their healthcare costs [other than making workers pay for more of it]? Let’s see what the New York Times reports:
‘The company has been losing market share to foreign rivals that operate at lower costs, partly because Japan, Germany and other governments provide universal health care for all their citizens.’
That sounds like a good idea. Maybe big American corporations should start thinking about supporting policies that help the entire business community survive, instead of fighting each other like trained cocks for the tax scraps tossed their way each year by Grover Norquist and Tom DeLay. Just a thought.”
Paul Krugman writes,
“If we had a Canadian-style system - which is enthusiastically supported by the Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. auto companies - the big squeeze [on American employee compensation] might be averted, at least for a while. One more reason to be angry with auto executives is that they never threw their support behind national health care in this country, even though such a system is clearly in their companies’ interest.”
I know that this is asking the UAW to ask its members to look big picture while their personal lives are taking a major financial hit - but I think that the union might have gained a lot if it had negotiated that G.M. would come out in support of national healthcare in exchange for the healthcare cuts. It’s a win-win proposition, and would mean a lot long-term for union members, not to mention G.M.’s bottomline (to the tune of tens, maybe hundreds of billions). Does anyone really think that if the basic economics don’t change pretty soon that the UAW did anything other than kick the can a little ways down the road for American workers? If the basic economics don’t change soon, this is far from the last cut, and far from the worst cut. Look no further than what happened to good airline jobs if you want to see the future.
The cards right now are stacked against many industrial unions. But just because you’ve been dealt a bad hand, that doesn’t mean you can’t try to win something big with it. Support the winner by making their win your own.
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