Businesses join against Colorado Amendment 56
August 26th, 2008 | by Brian Schwartz |From last week’s Rocky Mountain News:
Coloradans for Responsible Reform, backed by the Denver Metro Chamber and Defend Our Economy, a group made up largely of service, retail and tourism businesses, said Friday they have joined forces to fight four proposed amendments this fall.
One of them is the union-backed “Employer Responsibility for Health Insurance,” an “initiative requiring employers with 20 or more workers to shoulder 80 percent of health care coverage.” (Amendment 56)
While “defending our economy” can be a worthwhile goal, defending our rights is certainly more important. The relationship between an employee and employer is a private matter between consenting adults. No one has a right to interfere with this, that is, mandating or prohibiting terms of the employment relationship.
But I suppose unions think it’s more important to force employers to buy insurance for their employees. After all, it gives union bosses something to negotiate for on behalf of their members. And so what if employers pass the cost on to employees by lowering their wages? It’s not as if union wages are close enough the minimum wage such that these employees lose their jobs.
