Labor-management negotiations will not solve the health care crisis
Detroit Free Press
April 1, 2003
For UAW, health pay is a crisis nationally
By Jeffrey McCracken
The head of the United Auto Workers put automakers on notice Monday: You can't stem rising health-care costs by shifting the burden to workers and retirees. The auto industry alone can't solve "America's health care crisis."
"A lot of people, especially in the press, are curious about how we are going to solve the problem of rising health-care costs during this year's auto talks. The answer is, we're not. It's a national problem that demands a national solution," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center.
"We need a universal, comprehensive single-payer health-care program to cover every man, woman and child in the United States. You can't fix the health-care crisis in America at any one bargaining table with any one employer or within any one industry."
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/uaw1_20030401.htm