Miele’s Musing-WORKERS ALREADY PAY DUES—UNIONS SHOULD OFFER HEALTH CARE

BY PUBLISHER EMERITUS ARMAND MIELE

The talk today has turned once again to nationalized health care. What with Obamacare, Romneycare, and everything in between, the concern, of course, is that the taxpayers will be paying more than their fair share. It’s easy to forget, while the media focuses on politicians during this election year, that there’s at least one other big institution in a position to fund workers’ health care: the unions. The unions have been requiring workers and the businesses that support them to pay more than their fair share all along, so why aren’t they taking on their workers’ health care?

I’ve said it many times: unions do not create wealth. They steal from their members without providing any real benefits. The only thing workers gain from union membership is the ability to strike when the union tells them to do so. Then, to keep their memberships, workers have to forego regular paychecks and the goodwill of their employers, while most of the financial gains from a walkout go to the union heads. Members are basically required to pay their dues and demonstrate for the unions without pay. Meanwhile, the owner must raise his prices to stay in business, or go under. Who pays the higher prices? Working people, of course. This is the reason so many formerly American jobs are done in foreign countries.

Remember when the state of Maryland passed a law requiring Wal-Mart stores to spend at least 8 percent of their payrolls on health care? The great union leaders who supported the Maryland bill claimed to have gotten legislators together in 30 States to introduce the same bill. State Senator Gloria G. Lawlah, an ultra-liberal disguised as a Democrat, said in sponsorship of the bill, “Let us light the torch, let us lead the way.” Lead the way for what? Bigger government subsidies for unions? Unions gaining more control over business and over working taxpayers’ dollars?

Senator Lawlah and the rest of the legislators did not take the time to figure out who would pay for the bill in the long run. Government doesn’t need to turn a profit. Government doesn’t use a balance sheet. When government bigmouths find out their ideas don’t work, they use the taxpayers to survive and pay the bills.

The problem with the Maryland bill was that it was putting responsibility for workers’ health care with the taxpayers, instead of with the unions. Government-subsidized health care will do the same thing, on a bigger scale. But the unions collect billions in dues. Why shouldn’t union members have their health insurance paid?

I say the unions should have medical insurance for their members if they are really concerned. If a member loses his job or leaves his job for whatever reason, he loses his medical insurance. If his union was responsible for his medical insurance, then as a member in good standing, he would always be covered. I’m pretty sure all of the union delegates and officers have medical insurance paid by their unions, so why are the members left out? Are members just being used to keep up the huge payroll and goodies for the leaders? An example of workers who need the help is the union construction workers who rarely have a steady job. Ask any of them whether their families are covered with medical insurance at all times. What are their dues for?

The public should know that there’s another side to all the political debates being televised today. There’s more to health care policy than who gets elected in 2012. The politicians know it very well, but they are more interested in blaming each other or taking credit for themselves. They know that the voters won’t worry about what doesn’t come up on T.V. That is so wrong. Or maybe the problem is that the mainstream media is asking all the wrong questions.

When unions or government cheat businesses out of their earnings, working taxpayers take the hit. When American businesses are destroyed, the tax base is damaged, and again, it’s the working taxpayers that have to make up the lost tax burden somehow. If jobs keep going overseas due to union and government interference in private business, will we be able to get them back? Or will we only bring back a Great Depression? Wake up America! Vote for the politician who is concerned with helping the honest Americans.