WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: This Labor Perspective authored by Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153 Business Manager Richard Lanigan recently appeared in The Buffalo News’s Another Voice Section, which can be accessed at: https://buffalonews.com/opinion/another-voice-highmark-s-good-jobs-and-wages-benefit-wny/article_981c08de-c95d-11eb-8df4-77596155d8bd.html?fbclid=IwAR2VHAM7AKGhbX8E_P-Vti9S6Oyf7-CmLerx2l95czbSXmp9wdylvCFjLBk

A number of philanthropic organizations have criticized the amount of money to be spent to ameliorate health and race inequalities as a result of the recent state approval of a partnership between HealthNow New York and Highmark.

These benevolent organizations have been critical because the deal calls for a minimum contribution of $10 million toward improving race and health inequalities in the Western New York and Albany areas.

They say it’s not enough.

I highly doubt there is anything in the approval of the partnership that created Highmark Western and Northeastern New York that says $10 million is the maximum the company will spend toward improving race and health inequalities in the areas it services.

In addition, it should be noted that the partnership fully incorporates the commitment HealthNow New York made to its Employees and to the City of Buffalo to support the redevelopment of downtown and to employ Buffalonians.

Civic leaders celebrated the moment when HealthNow New York brought jobs back to Buffalo and the fact that the people who perform that work would receive good wages and benefits.

In addition to the several hundred Employees the company already had in Buffalo, it brought back to the city many additional good-paying jobs.

The Employees receive a compensation package that pays several dollars an hour more than the company’s competitors, and it includes a Family Medical Plan.

I know these things because the Union I lead, OPEIU Local 153, represents the Employees of Highmark Western and Northeastern New York.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic the company made an investment in its Employees by allowing them to work from home in most cases, while at the same time providing full wages and benefits uninterrupted.

There were no furloughs or layoffs.

This meant that our Union’s Members in Buffalo did not have the kind of financial difficulties and other anxiety that faced so many other Essential Workers and other Employees during the last year.

I can assure you as a negotiator of a recent Labor Agreement between Local 153 and Highmark Western and Northeastern New York that the Union wages, work conditions, benefits and job security it provides strengthens hundreds of racially and ethnically diverse families in Buffalo and will cost tens of millions of dollars over time.

In essence, many believe that providing secure employment that pays good wages and includes excellent family benefits, including health care, is one of the best ways of dealing with race and health inequality issues.

We salute the philanthropic organizations for the excellent work they do, but we honestly believe that this is a situation where it’s probably best to look at the whole picture.