It was kind of a surprise to hear a union praise Wal-Mart, especially since the retail giant is generally vilified by the labor movement.
But Ann Kempski, deputy director of legislation for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told a group of area human resource executives that the Arkansas retailer deserves at least some points for opening mini-clinics staffed with nurse practitioners in its stores. The inexpensive care will particularly help some of the low-wage workers -- janitors, home health aides, security guards -- that SEIU so often represents.
"I think that these clinics that Wal-Mart is creating have the potential to be an incredibly transformative thing," she said, speaking on a panel put together by Mercer, a human resource consulting firm, at the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia this morning. The panel was intended to inform the group about the political landscape for health care reform.
Kempski said that Wal-Mart's program will improve access and "will help drive down costs" through its use of nurse practitioners for some routine care, instead of more-expensive doctors. "We can not produce more doctors," she said.
Almost exactly a year ago, the SEIU and several others partnered with Wal-Mart, AT&T and other major employers in a joint effort to improve health care. When SEIU's president, former Univ. of Penn grad Andrew Stern, stood on the platform with Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to announce the program, it was a shock.
In doing so, SEIU broke with an ally, the United Food and Commercial Workers, which has been campaigning hard against the retail giant. Chief among UFCW's complaints has been Wal-Mart's less than stellar performance in providing health insurance for its own employees. Wal-Mart has improved its coverage in the last year, but not enough critics say.
Kempski agreed. "I'm still a critic of Wal-Mart when it comes to benefits for their own employees."
