Pay now, pay later
by digby
This doesn’t seem right.Verizon workers have gone on strike because the company is trying to extract onerous new concessions fromk them even as they rake in unprecedented profits.
VZ management sent a message to all of its union-represented “associates” in the northeast, which informed them that they must pay more for their benefits now, thanks to Obama’s version of “health care reform.” Said Verizon:
“Under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, an excise tax will be levied on healthcare plans with very generous plan design components (so-called “Cadillac plans”)…. This excise tax is projected to cost the company as much as $200 million in 2018 when the tax is imposed; however, Verizon is required to account for this cost now. Accordingly, we will need to modify plan designs to avoid the impact of this tax.”
Not surprisingly, Verizon’s tax-avoidance scheme requires shifting costs to workers. According to the company, its “current average annual medical coverage” expense is nearly $14,000 a year for each union member, which is “twice the average for comparable companies in the eastern U.S. whose employees make contributions toward their healthcare.” In addition, “99 per cent of companies now charge for family health coverage.” So this disparity needs to be corrected by forcing workers with dependents to pay $1,300 to $3,000 a year for such benefits. (Overall, the total, per employee, cost of all pay and benefit concessions currently sought by Verizon is $20,000, according to CWA President Larry Cohen.)
The president gave strong support for unions on his bus tour today saying that they are what built the middle class. The union would love to see him on the picket line. Mike Elk writes:
President Obama could release a statement saying it is wrong for companies to shift excise tax costs to workers (seven years before the tax goes into effect)—something Obama said would not happen when the legislation passed last year.
An image of President Obama standing on a picket line with workers fighting a profitable company demanding deep concessions could help Obama win re-election in 2012. By standing with Verizon picketers, the president could help heal an uneasy relationship with organized labor, which has been frustrated by Obama’s failure to push for labor law reform, his focus on lowering the deficit as opposed to creating jobs, and his push for free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. Standing with striking Verizon workers could help capture some of the same energy unleashed by this year’s protests in Madison, Wis.
I’d like to see that too. But since they are using the ACA as an excuse to strong arm workers into taking a pay cut, I think it’s unlikely. Too bad. it’s a stirring image.
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