Amy Traub

Best thing since sliced gourmet bread - Big Win for NYC Grocery Workers

Yesterday the City Council voted to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of the Health Care Security Act a bill to ensure that grocery employees have access to health care through their jobs. The legislation requires any grocery store with more than 35 employees to contribute an amount equivalent to the prevailing health care expenditure in the industry-- about $2.50 per hour per employee-- towards their employees' health care. The legislation will bring new health care coverage to an estimated 6,000 workers.

The Act is a pilot program advancing a powerful vision of high-road economic development, which levels the playing field for businesses that provide decent wages and good health benefits to employees, while resisting efforts to compete on the basis of driving down wages and benefits.

While the bill is often discussed in the context of big box discount retailers like Wal-Mart, which is trying to gain a foothold in the city, high-end groceries like Whole Foods and The Garden of Eden that are already operating in New York City also cut corners on the health care needs of their employees. The Act recognizes that when these corporations fail to provide affordable health benefits, many of their employees are forced to go on Medicaid or use other state-sponsored programs to get health care for themselves and their families. The public is thus subsidizing the cost-cutting measures of these employers even as it becomes harder for companies that do provide benefits to compete.

The Health Care Security Act puts an end to that subsidy in at least one industry. Let's hope more are on the way.

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Posted at 10:17 AM, Oct 12, 2005 in Health Care
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