Wal-Mart Bill Coming Back in 2008

The News Tribune reports today that the state Labor Council will again push their flawed "pay or play" health care bill, or as the headline has it, "the Wal-Mart bill," more accurately the anti-Wal-Mart bill.  It makes a good convention-opening applause line.

“The taxpayers of this state are subsidizing Wal-Mart and health care benefits for their employees. And that has got to change,” state labor council President Rick Bender said in his opening remarks at the three-day convention. “

It's supposedly about getting corporations to provide health insurance for their employees. Wal-Mart, organized labor's designated Voldemort (tough metaphor, I don't see any Harry Potters on the other side) is just the rallying point. Most large firms already offer health care. And, of course, some employees decline to buy the coverage for which they're eligible.

It's a short step from pay-or-play to single-payer, as the former sets the stage for government's greatly-expanded role in dictating the terms of health care coverage. And casting Wal-Mart as the villain plays into labor's ongoing frustration with its lack of success in organzing the globe's largest retailer.

The thrill must be in the battle, because the legislative victories often are simply preludes to defeats in the courtroom.