Bobcat Employees Go On Strike In Bismarck
Employees immediatly began picketing outside the Bobcat manufactoring plant on south 26th street in Bismarck.
The stike will affect about 700 employees.
Steve Chmielewski is the spokesman for the local United Steel workers union.
He says because of rising health care costs they are making less money today than they did just five years ago.
(Steve Chmielewski/ Local USW 566)
“But wth the health insurance costs they have kept us behind so far for the last eight years that it is now almost impossible to afford the coverage out of our pocket that we have to pick up.”
Chmielewski says they will wait out this strike until they get what they want.
They’re asking to have the company pay all of the employees health care costs.
Video of the news report at the link.
I wonder where the Steel Workers’ Union is thinking Bobcat is going to get the money to pay for all of their health care costs, because the reality of the situation is that if Bobcat has to pick up health care costs they’re probably just going to hire fewer employees.
Rising health care costs aren’t going to be fixed by shoving all the burden for paying them off onto this nation’s employers. That’s just going to make these employers charge more for their goods and services (to the detriment of us all) and in extreme cases even take their businesses to other countries, in addition to just flat out hiring fewer employees as I’ve already mentioned.
If I were Bobcat I’d fire these workers and hire new ones. That might sound extreme, but burgeoning costs associated with trying to provide employees with unlimited health care benefits crushed companies like Ford and General Motors. If Bobcat doesn’t want to follow suit they’d be better off cutting their losses now.
