Unions take big companies to statehouse

WASHINGTON — Labor unions announced Thursday they would pursue legislation in 31 states this year to require large employers, including Wal-Mart, to spend more on health care benefits or contribute to Medicaid.

“The bottom line is that our health care system is broken, but it didn’t just split open,” said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of unions representing 9 million workers. “Big companies like Wal-Mart are pulling it apart and profiting at taxpayers’ expense.”

The unions contend that some profitable companies shift their health insurance costs onto workers, taxpayers and other businesses. Their solution is legislation that would require large employers to dedicate a fixed percentage of their payroll to health care benefits.

States would determine the percentage that makes the most sense for them, as well as the size of the companies the law would apply to. The unions said some of the states they will focus on include Colorado, Connecticut and Washington.

The proposed legislation is similar to what Maryland lawmakers passed last year when they said companies with more than 10,000 employees would be required to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care, or those companies would be required to pay more into the state Medicaid fund. Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed the bill.

Sarah Clark, a Wal-Mart spokesperson, said more than three-quarters of the company’s 1.3 million employees have health insurance, either through work, their family or Medicare. She said the bills would do nothing to help the uninsured.

“They should focus on solving the nation’s health care challenges, not attacking companies that provide families with access to affordable health insurance,” Clark said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the unions’ effort, if successful, would make it harder for companies to survive. Bruce Josten, the group’s executive vice president, said U.S. companies already have to pay for health care costs, unlike competitors in Europe and Asia.

“Why are we going to put this yoke on corporate America’s neck? This is a problem for everybody in the country,” Josten said.

Sweeney said polls show voters overwhelmingly support requiring large, profitable companies to either provide health insurance or pay into a health care fund.