Hey! That’s a great fuckin’ idea! Why didn’t I think of that?

The employers would be all for de-coupling from healthcare.

I disagree. Receiving a large (compared to the majority of working people and inflation) annual raise that is slightly smaller than it would have been because one of the things that had been covered by the increase is no longer an obligation is not a pay cut.

I completely disagree with you. There is a marketplace. You don't pay a value for x, y, and z when z doesn't exist. This would be rolling out the fucking red carpet for non-union competition.

And 0% is required to fund a health and welfare fund.

The compensation would be the same. In fact, in this scenario, the workers would receive an enormous increase in compensation in the liquidation of their healthcare fund which would no longer be necessary along with the already negotiated values that include increases in healthcare well into the future.

I do too. Unfortunately, the union members I'm talking about either don't think like you, or have much better benefits than you ever had, and don't want to give them up for something undefined.

You are suggesting that all industry savings should go directly to the union worker.

Yes it does. The cost of healthcare is ultimately the burden of the developers, not the employers, not the workers. I'm as pro-union as a person can be. What you're suggesting is a big part of the reason why unions fail over and over and over again. 

Because healthcare would no longer be a consideration, and workers would have already received a huge amount of money that would dwarf the cost of their presumably decreasing healthcare costs. Why would the industry pay the same amount when the cost is less?

Let’s be clear. You seem to be saying that these theoretical results of national healthcare would somehow be unfair to these workers: Wage increased immediately from $50(+)/hr to $65/hr. Liquidation of H&W fund resulting in $100K payout. Annuity of $12/hr. Pension fund that pays approximately 80% of current wage. We…

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The payout for the dissolution of the H&W fund would be in the neighborhood of $100K per worker. Workers would also keep the over $14/hr that is currently going towards H&W (presumably that would more than cover the increased taxes associated with a national healthcare system.) Yes, future savings should be realized by…

It’s hard to say how the funds would be allocated. I guess the current fund would be dissolved and disbursed to the membership (that would be a MASSIVE payout) and the amount currently allocated (in excess of $14/hr) would go on the check. My initial reaction is that future increases *should* decrease by the amount…

1 Grace Jones is more than enough for ANY person.

Why do you think they don’t absolutely love their Cadillac plan? They earn a lot of money (over $50/hour) on the check, their pension fund is healthy and massive, their annuity is over $12/hour. These are workers who are very happy with the money they earn, and they don’t trust that they will get a plan that is nearly…

I can only speak from my own experience as a negotiator with a major trade union. That is never a bargaining chip. In fact, only the total amount of the increase is what is negotiated, NOT how those funds are allocated. The union allocates the funds to health and welfare, pension, annuity, HSA, etc., as it deems…

Because *many* of them have “Cadillac” insurance plans and decades old trusts that they have acquired through collective bargaining over literally decades. Full disclosure: I am a union employer, lead collective bargaining negotiator (on behalf of management), and health and welfare fund trustee. The members recognize…

Members of trade unions (such as the one Delaney’s father worked in) would disagree with you.

The very question that Warren/Sanders are going to have to ultimately have to answer is the one that he posed to them. If they can’t adequately explain how these things get paid for in a succinct manner, they are going to run into a fuckload of trouble.