saving ink • You know American workers are in bad shape when a...

“ You know American workers are in bad shape when a low-paying, no-benefits job is considered a sweet deal. Their situation isn’t likely to improve soon; some economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any semblance of bargaining power.
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The Disposable Worker - BusinessWeek

This is definitely worth reading in full. Basically, temp jobs will become the norm, loyalty is disappearing and the average worker is getting increasingly screwed, and will continue to do so for the next decade or so at least.

What the article doesn’t mention is that there is one way to drastically improve this situation: pass health care. And not the stripped-down version Congress is still incapable of passing, but a version that completely divorces health care from employment, so workers can choose jobs based on the jobs themselves, not their benefits or, increasingly, lack thereof. A more European system, if you will.

Case in point (from the same article):

For a glimpse of where things might be headed in the U.S., look at Europe, which makes a lot more use of temporary and part-time workers than U.S. employers do. […] One big difference: Most European countries cover temps and part-timers with government health insurance and require that they receive wages and benefits comparable to those for permanent employees doing similar work.

Barring all of the criticisms of the health care plan in its various incarnations, it’s hard to believe that anyone would be against the idea of divorcing health care from employment. Health insurance was never a part of any employment “package” until the early 20th century, and the concept didn’t really take off until after WWII, when employers were using any gimmick they could to get the best workers.

Now, it’s not so much a benefit as a yoke, forcing employees to take or remain at jobs they would otherwise leave, and crippling the economy in the process. The reason private, non-employer insurance is so expensive is because those who can’t afford it either seek out jobs with health plans or go without, leaving a smaller pool without much bargaining power purchasing private insurance.

Divorce health care from employment: that’s the first step of health care reform. Everything else can be up for debate.