Large companies no longer will be able to cheap out on health insurance for their workers under legislation that unions are pushing in Minnesota and 30 other states.

The "Fair Share Health Care" campaign will require, on a state-by-state basis, that large companies commit a percentage of their payroll to health insurance. If they fail to do so, the companies will have to pay the shortfall to a state fund that offsets taxpayer subsidies for public health insurance programs such as MinnesotaCare.

"Everyone who works for a living should have health coverage," said Rep. Eileen Cody, a state legislator in Washington who took part in an AFL-CIO conference call Thursday unveiling the campaign. "At the state level, we have to do what we can do until Congress does something."

A state-by-state solution
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said it's time "to stop large, profitable corporations ? like Wal-Mart ? from freeloading" off taxpayers and companies that do provide affordable, accessible health insurance to their employees and their families. The proposed legislation, though far from the perfect solution, will hold large corporations and legislators accountable, Sweeney said.

"A problem this big deserves a national solution," he said. But because Congress and the White House lack the political will, "we're going to take this on state by state," much as unions have done to raise the minimum wage, he said. "We can't afford to stand by and wait for the federal government."

"Absent universal health care on a state, regional or national level, we need to say we're not going to drive down the standard of living for working Americans," said Rep. David McCluskey, a state legislator in Connecticut.

SEIU and UFCW, unions that are part of the Change to Win Federation, say they will support the campaign.

Minnesota pushes constitutional amendment
Minnesota unions will push for a version of the fair share legislation here, though their main priority will be a constitutional amendment that guarantees health care for all, said Brad Lehto, legislative director for the Minnesota AFL-CIO. Fair share legislation, he said, "would be another method to start getting everybody covered."

Minnesota unions will also push legislation requiring the state to track and disclose which employers have the most workers relying on taxpayer-subsidized health care, Lehto said. The DFL-controlled Senate passed disclosure legislation last session, but the Republican-controlled House blocked it.

"Here, I think you'll find Target and Wal-Mart at the top, but we don't know," Lehto said. "That's the problem. We don't even know which companies are helping put people on the welfare rolls."

In states where such information has been made public, Wal-Mart has been the biggest freeloader in 16 of the 19 states.

Wal-Mart covers fewer than half its workers
"It used to be that responsible corporations in the United States provided health insurance," Washington's McCluskey said. "The drive to the bottom really started with Wal-Mart. Well, we're not going to tolerate the richest corporation on the planet putting their employees on state and federal subsidized health care."

Wal-Mart's own figures acknowledge that fewer than half the company's employees have company health insurance. But the company also says that more than three-quarters of its 1.3 million employees have health insurance, either through Wal-Mart, a family member or a government program. That means Wal-Mart is pushing its health-care responsibilities for more than 25 percent of its employees ? more than 325,000 workers ? onto other companies or onto taxpayers.

Such cost-shifting adds $30 billion in costs to responsible businesses, Sweeney said.

The fair share legislation is based on a Maryland bill that requires companies with 10,000 or more employees to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on employee health insurance. The AFL-CIO says the percentage and the number of employees required will vary from state to state, based on local conditions.

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed the bill last year, but the General Assembly is expected to try to override the veto as soon as next week.

Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@stpaulunions.org