Several Jimmy John’s restaurants may unionize. It’s always fun to peruse the reader comments in Star Tribune stories, if you are wondering what the great mass of Christine O’Donnell conservatives are thinking, and this story is no different: several commenters claim that they will no longer patronize Jimmy John’s if they unionize. Like much conservative thought, I don’t get it.
If Jimmy John’s unionizes, then if anything I’ll go there more. Just like I buy my groceries at Rainbow or Cub instead of Target, because Target workers are not union and generally get crappy benefits (Target workers are treated little better than Walmart workers; the fact that they have avoided the negative reaction is a testament to their much better PR organization). I don’t mind paying a few bucks more for groceries knowing that the person checking me out at least has health insurance; similarly, I won’t mind paying more at Jimmy John’s to get the same assurance.
What I really don’t get is this: if small business owners are so scared of union drives, why don’t they support universal health care of some sort, be it public, private, or a combination? Lack of health insurance is generally a major driving force behind drives for unionization; if everybody had health insurance (that the business didn’t even directly have to pay for!) then the threat of unionization would be that much less. Not to mention that a lack of benefits would no longer be a detriment to hiring the best workers you can get. In short, disconnecting health insurance from employment and covering everybody would benefit small business owners in just about every way.
Frankly, I don’t get it. That is, though, my typical reaction when reading Star Tribune reader comments.