Union Rallies Corporate America

A major corporation will announce its support for President Obama's health reform plan along with one of the country's largest labor groups next month, a union official says.

Dennis Rivera, the Service Employees International Union's point person on health care, says he expects to get a company commitment similar to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s surprise endorsement of insurance mandates for employers earlier this year. Wal-Mart's action set off a firestorm of protest from its own trade association of retailers, who vehemently oppose such government mandates.

The pact with the giant retailer shows the strength of SEIU, the fastest-growing U.S. labor group with 2.2 million members. Health care reform is SEIU's No. 1 issue and the union, which helped President Obama win the White House, is gearing up for a new offensive next month. Any joint labor-company announcement is going to strengthen the president's health reform push.

"September is going to get hot and heavy," Rivera says.

He declines to say which companies SEIU is talking with: "It's fair to say we are in conversations with many American companies."

One possibility: Target Corp., which is one of Wal-Mart's biggest rivals. The retailer held off making a full-fledged endorsement after Wal-Mart's. But a company official told Dow-Jones Newswires in July that Target supported the mandate concept.

A Target spokeswoman wouldn't directly comment on whether it is close to making an announcement but says in a statement that the company "is carefully monitoring developments surrounding employer-mandated health care coverage."