Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:27:02 -0500 (EST)
From: dicconf <dicconf at radix.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Odd events
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

On Thu, 22 Dec 2005, Mike B. wrote:

> With HMOs hiring doctors as employees, and medical care being too expensive
> for all but the super rich without a medical insurance plan of some sort,
> what happens when doctors unionize, and go on strike?  It's not out of the
> question, though it isn't likely to happen soon...still, it's worth
> thinking about before you go making absolute statements about unions.  Do
> we just let the people locked into the HMO systems die while negotiations
> drag on during a doctor's strike?  Or do we make it illegal for doctors to
> go on strike, and have enough penalties for doing so anyway to keep them
> from trying it?

There _have_ been efforts to unionize medical workers, though IIRC they
mostly wanted to put a stop to the brutally long hours non-MDs are
expected to work.  If I had my druthers, I'd rather not be worked on by
somebody who's been awake for twenty hours nonstop, but some physicians in
senior positions feel that this sort of thing is a necessary stress test.
As a Wicked Doubter, I suspect that it's much like trying to get rid of
hazing in military and police forces: "We went thru this, so every other
newbie has to".

> As far as what the alternatives there are to upgrading air traffic control
> workers' equipment and work environment goes, there is at least one: use
> the developments we've had in technology over the last 50 years.

Uh...how does this differ from "upgrading"?

> With proper use of modern technology we could improve efficiency and safety
> and the lives of those working in ATC...but it will take money, planning,
> some time, and, most importantly, the will to make a change from the
> central-control model to a distributed system model.

That's all it would take to end global warming, stop political corruption,
reform the voting system...,

-- Dick Eney

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http://www.crifanac.net/Index.htm
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