One of the key issues for the future of labor, that Stern has already hit on in his posts, is healthcare and talking about the future of where we go from here. Clearly with 46 millions of Americans without healthcare (the large majority of those being working Americans) and at least that many under-insured, we have a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

But here's where the possibilities get really exciting. When it's not only union leaders like Stern, but CEOs like Steve Burd of Safeway, among many others, agreeing that something needs to change, you have the chance to create an entirely new coalition to fundamentally chance there way we handle Healthcare in this country.

When even Walmart CEO Lee Scott is saying "Business and Labor have to work together on healthcare," you know the same old ideologies might not be able to hold back change.

One of the solution Stern tosses out in a recent Forbes article (if you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, Forbes magazine is running a glowing profile of Andy Stern in it's October 16, 2006 issue) is bringing in a third party like McKinsey consulting "to take this closeted conversation into the daylight."

Think of the possibilities that could come to fruition if such a move was made. Unions and employers looking for real change working with efficiency experts to create a new paradigm for healthcare nationally. This is one of those really exciting ideas that absolutely needs to be followed up on. Maybe if Washington DC can't solve our national healthcare crisis, forward thinking union leaders and CEOs can do it for them....