Union stops plan to send worker
to India for low-cost surgery
The United Steelworkers Union de-
nounced a shocking new approach that
employers are considering to limit
health care expenses — sending em-
ployees to low-cost countries overseas
for expensive medical procedures.
Dubbed “medical tourism” by the
media, the idea of outsourcing medical
care to low-cost countries is finding its
way into corporate agendas as a way
to cut health care costs.
Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. of
Canton, N.C., proposed sending one of
its employees, a member of the Steel-
workers Union, to India for surgery —
a move that would have saved the self-
insured company tens of thousands of
dollars.
The union, however, intervened and
the company withdrew the proposal.
Both sides agreed to work together to
find an alternative within the United
States for the employee, who had vol-
unteered to undergo surgery in India in
return for a share of the savings.
“With companies now proposing to
send their own American employees
abroad for less expensive health care
services, there can be no doubt that the
U.S. health care system is in immedi-
ate need of massive reform,” said
Steelworkers General President Leo
Gerard in a letter to Senate and House
committees with jurisdiction over
health care issues.
No U.S. citizen should be exposed
to the risks involved in traveling inter-
nationally for health care services, said
Gerard, who described the willingness
of employers to offer incentives for
employees to assume those risks as
“frightening.”
“The right to safe, secure and de-
pendable health care in one’s own
country should not be surrendered for
any reason — certainly not to fatten
the profit margins of corporate in-
vestors,” he added.
“The off-shoring of family and
community-supportive jobs is bad
enough,” Gerard continued. “Exacer-
bating this crisis by attempting to out-
source health care is not only shame-
less; it does nothing to solve the
nation’s skyrocketing health care
costs.”
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India’s software companies are
shut down in 12-hour strike
India’s IT hub Bangalore came to a grinding halt Oct. 3 as hundreds of tech
and software firms logged out during a day-long shutdown across Kamata.
Emergency services for hospitals, ambulances, fire brigades, medical stores and
the movement of perishable fruits and vegetables were exempt from the strike.
The usually teeming Bangalore city, home to over 1,500 Indian and global
tech firms, like Microsoft, Intel Corp. and IBM, wore a deserted look as compa-
nies, educational institutions and shops shut down. Though several tech firms
and their code writers declined to admit support for the strike, they decided to
shut down to avoid confrontation with the protesters and prevent damage to
their property.
To make up for the day’s loss of work, several firms like Infosys and Wpro
directed their employees to report for duty on Saturday. Many firms, however,
made makeshift arrangements in their offices for skeletal staff to provide re-
mote/online services to their U.S. and European clients.
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Serving unions for over 25 years
THE UNION PLUS ® MORTGAGE PROGRAM
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When it comes to mortgages, we’re
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• FREE Mortgage Assistance Benefit
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Choose from fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, and low- or no-closing costs options.
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Union Plus is a registered trademark of Union Privilege. Eligibility for mortgage assistance begins one year after closing on a Union Plus Mortgage through Chase
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©2005 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All Rights Reserved. P-UP 104 2A-7604 10/05
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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