Safeway urges quick action on employee health benefits

OLYMPIA — Supporters of a bill aimed at forcing Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health-care benefits got a boost Monday when Safeway Inc. sent what appeared to be a veiled letter of support for the measure.

In the letter, Greg Sparks, president of Safeway's Seattle division, complained about having to compete against companies that don't provide health insurance. And he urged House Speaker Frank Chopp to take "immediate action" to help ease what he described as a growing health-care crisis.

Chopp, D-Seattle, has come under pressure during the past week to allow a vote on union-backed legislation dubbed "Fair Share." The bill would require companies with more than 5,000 employees to spend at least 9 percent of their payroll costs on health-care benefits.

Wal-Mart is believed to be one of a handful of companies that would be affected by the bill.

Supporters have until 5 p.m. today to get the bill out of at least one chamber of the Legislature.

Chopp said Monday he hasn't brought the bill to the floor because he doesn't think it would provide health coverage to more people.

Late last week, 38 House Democrats — two-thirds of Chopp's caucus — signed a letter urging him to let them vote on the bill.

Most of the push for the legislation has come from labor unions, health-care advocates and one small grocery chain.

Similar "Fair Share" bills have been introduced in more than two dozen states. But the only place where supporters have succeeded is Maryland, where the bill was backed by one of the state's largest grocery chains.

While several of Washington's largest business associations have spoken against the bill, most of Wal-Mart's main retail competitors have remained silent.

In his letter to Chopp, Safeway's Sparks did not explicitly endorse the bill. But he raised several of the same arguments supporters have made.

He pointed out that "responsible employers" and taxpayers are facing an "increased burden" to cover health-care costs for the uninsured.

Recent state reports said that, in 2004, Washington taxpayers spent more than $12 million to provide state-subsidized health care for more than 3,100 Wal-Mart employees.

Nationwide, roughly half of Wal-Mart's employees are covered by the company's health insurance.

"We share your concern with the impact on the health-care delivery system of the cost-shifting by the uninsured, as well as the unfair competitive advantage that employers who do not provide health benefits to their workers have over those of us who do," Sparks wrote.

He described Safeway as a "responsible union employer" but said the company has been forced to make some tough decisions on its benefits to remain competitive.

"It seems to me they are calling for what this bill calls for," said Joe Crump, lobbyist for the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "And they're demanding action from the one person who can bring action."

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Holder said she hadn't seen the letter but called it disingenuous. She defended Wal-Mart's health benefits as competitive and pointed out that Safeway also had a large number of employees on state-subsidized health care.

The reports showed that Safeway, with roughly the same number of employees in Washington state as Wal-Mart, had fewer than half as many workers on Medicaid or the state's Basic Health Plan.

Calls to Safeway's lobbyists were not returned Monday.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com