Not fair -

[kyburg]

Remember that grocery worker's strike?

Remember that it hasn't been settled yet?

Remember that the beginning of the year was last week?

What do you think happened to those worker's insurance enrollments?

They disappeared.

And most of them were Kaiser HMO policies.

Jim works for Kaiser.

They didn't lose a few members.

They lost 50,000 of them overnight.

They're sending people home early to cut overhead. Jim has been told to be prepared to have his hours reduced.

And begin working Saturdays to compensate.

There are no words.

Well, nothing I can repeat.

Lighting incense. At least things will smell good.

*grumps*

Comments

[snackpants.livejournal.com]

Sometimes people dont understand the ripple effect across the spectrum...

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Oh, crap! What an icky thing to be surprised with!

[titos2cents.livejournal.com]

Any chance that the 50,000 will return after some arm-twisting?

[chestercheeto.livejournal.com]

They didn't chose to leave, they lost their benefits because the union no longer had enough money to pay for them due to the strike.
My brother used to work at Stater Brothers and had to quit because of the loss of benefits, even though Stater Brothers workers signed the Sweetheart deal which prevents them from striking.

It definitely sucks.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

50,000 - poof. It's hard to get the head around.

And there's just nothing to do about it. It would be this - or the contract they rejected. No difference.

*sigh* People don't stop getting sick, though. They'll just shuffle off to the local hospitals when they need care instead and maybe be able to pay for it - or the hospitals will have to absorb it.

It just keeps rolling downhill.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

...and I assume Jim's not a member of a union, since most health care workers aren't or can't be. (And somehow I can't even picture a union managing to take on Kaiser. Godzilla would go home whimpering and hurt if he tried to take on Kaiser, I fear.)

Grr.

Safeway has this big sign up these days saying something like "Those striking workers outside are all from *southern* california, and not here, and we're not doing *anything* mean or nasty to people's health benefits."

I'm glad I've found a way to get to Albertson's at least for most of the grocery runs.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

One can only hope so - one way or the other.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

No, actually - Kaiser is a union house. EVERYONE belongs to a union there.

I don't think I'll ever go to an Albertsons again.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

oh bugs - is Albertson's the same company? or what evil did they commit?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

No - they're just evil. They are always the most expensive and tend to hire nasty, cranky managers.

I've never liked them. Now, I have even more reason not to like them.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeek!

Stupid strike/lockout...

The ripple effects are going to be very widespread.

I will go into a shopping centre with an Albertsons/Vons/Ralphs in it, but for other stores, and will not go into Albertsons/Vons-Pavillions/Ralphs.

Then again, I've been pretty much a Trader Joe's person for years now.

Much luck to Jim!

C.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I hope things get better soon, for everyone.

Gessi

[vampireanneke.livejournal.com]

See I don't blame the supermarkets, I blame the workers. They make far more per hour with their basic jobs due to being in a union then most people I know who have trade skills. Is it so bad to pay for health care...I do it, as do the majority of the rest of the people in the US.

As for medical care...it's going down hill, fast. Santa Teressita Hospital is closing down. And it's in the same city (Duarte - City of Health) as the City Hope (a giant medical research center).

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

They make far more per hour with their basic jobs due to being in a union then most people I know who have trade skills.
What occupations & figures do you base this observation on?

Is it so bad to pay for health care...I do it, as do the majority of the rest of the people in the US.
Perhaps they wouldn't have to if they were in unions. ;)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Kick me, I'm old. I remember when the unions ran their own health care plans.

This way, all the remaining subscribers at Kaiser get short-changed as their provider scrambles to keep providing care to them with the remaining suscriber base.

Then again, would anyone put so much stock in one subscriber pool like the union membership? It works so well for those folks who sell to Wall-Mart, and then get locked into selling to them or going out of business.

Guess they weren't watching.

A lot of small hospitals go out of business every year - it's very sad. I don't know if St. Luke's over there in Pasadena ever found a buyer - Jim was one of the last people to work there. How does this happen? We insist that providers provide - but never find a way to pay for it. I wonder how many layers of paint most ambulances have on them - they go out of business often, having to deal with Medicare reimbursement woes more than any other branch of the health care delivery system.

Also - you may complain about how much a union worker makes, but on the flip side, those workers provide a source of income as a tax base and consumers to the neighborhoods they live in. And this was never about the hourly wage - don't let anyone snow you.

The markets around here still have near-empty parking lots. And I have some nastygrams to write.