[CAUT] Health Care

[Jeff Tanner]

Hi Kurt,
1. Probably all. But add structured retirement plan, and in some cases, free or reduced tuition for family members, but that isn't available everywhere.  It is my opinion that most who take full time CAUT positions are not aware of just how much money you don't get to pay bills with.  And then, #2 happens.
2. Probably few. Unless you've built up a nest egg to sustain you for more than 2 years, you'll probably incur some debt until the business has grown enough to replace the salary.  In other words, once you take a CAUT job, you're really quite stuck there. The obvious exception, of course, would be if you leave for a completely different field of work or if you are able to take over someone else's clientele.
3. Nope. The employer is not going to automatically "trickle down" the health care savings to the employee. Higher salaries are only going to happen when the employees insist on them or when the pool of qualified candidates understands the market value of their skills and refuses to accept the low salary offers. 

Yes. Health care is probably the number one reason we are willing to take such large pay cuts. Over time, effective health care reform will be the solution to most of the problems of our national economy. But the results will not be immediate.  And it will still be up to the employees to insist on higher wages.
Jeff
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Kurt Ford 
  To: caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 11:47 AM
  Subject: [CAUT] Health Care


        Questions that should be asked: 
        1) How many of us are working well below our income potential just to participate in group health care plans?

         2) How many of us would return to the private sector if the government comes up with an affordable health plan for the self-employed?

        3) Would this force Schools to offer higher salaries to attract qualified Technicians?

        Kurt W. Ford
        University of Idaho

       

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