Reply #33: Explaination

[commonsensedem]

Just fyi, long time lurker, never written before. I live in Ma. and have been following this issue for awhile, it has been a huge issue among those involved in municipal politics. This is NOT Winsconsin like at all. First it does not allow municipalities to unilaterally strip unions of all bargainign rights. Second it does not affect public employees who do not work for cities and towns.

What it does do: It allows municipalities to unilaterally move their union from private insurance to the same exact insurance state employees receive. The thought behind it is if the state has more people to insure the lower the costs among its members, including cities and towns. Most communities will save hundreds of thousands of dollars. Believe it or not the idea for doing this came from the same thought process that brought together unions: together they can bargain lower rates and better services for their membership, seprated, smaller unions within small towns are at the mercy of insurance companies.