By Doug Cunningham

Jack Rasmus, author of "The War At Home:The Bush Corporate Offensive Against American Workers And Their Unions", says the health care trust funds accepted by the UAW in the auto industry represent a massive income shift from workers to corporations that undermines collective bargaining. And he says the idea is already spreading to other big companies.

[Rasmus]: “The post-war health care financing delivery system is coming to an end. It’s coming to an end rapidly. Companies like Verizon, AT&T – they’re all looking at how they can do this.”

Rasmus, who has a degree in Economics and a Ph.D in Political Economy, says the auto industry health care funds known as VEBA’s are severely underfunded. New accounting rules requiring full funding of such plans are just around the corner.

[Rasmus 2]: “Of course the auto companies know that and they’re jumping ship just in time and lettin’ the union and the workers hold the bag.

They're dismantling the collective bargaining agreements and the process itself. And union leadership unfortunately all too often is cooperating even more closely with companies on the dismantling. And I call that the drift towards corporate unionism rather than just concessionary unionism."

(For more about Rasmus and his book, go to www.kyklosproductions.com)