LAST NOVEMBER 69 percent of San Francisco voters cast their ballots to pass Proposition 72, the statewide initiative that would have provided health care benefits to almost two million uninsured workers in California. Prop. 72 was on the ballot because corporations in California wanted to repeal S.B. 2, legislation authored by state senators John Burton and Jackie Speier and signed by Gov. Gray Davis that would have mandated core health care coverage for employees of companies that have 50 or more workers. Corporations such as McDonalds and Wal-Mart poured millions into the campaign to repeal this legislation. They won with less than 51 percent of the statewide vote.

Labor unions and our partners, representing doctors, consumers, hospitals, employers, and some insurers, fought hard to pass S.B. 2 and save it during the Prop. 72 attack. But despite the loss statewide, the overwhelming majority of San Francisco voters realized that steps must be taken to tackle the health care crisis in San Francisco and California by mandating that employers have a responsibility to cover hardworking employees.

In San Francisco, public health facilities are being overwhelmed by thousands of workers who have no health insurance. With a budget crisis that is costing San Francisco jobs and services, city taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the health care burden caused by employers who don't provide health care benefits.

And worse, responsible employers who provide health insurance are undercut by those who don't. And the rising cost of health care is further exacerbated by the costs of insuring the uninsured. Twenty percent of our health care premiums go to cover the hospital costs of uninsured patients. This is a ridiculous cycle of escalating costs that causes even fewer to be insured and steamrolls a race to the bottom.

San Francisco deserves better – and we should retake the lead on health care.

Sup. Tom Ammiano, with support from many of the supervisors, along with health care advocates, women's groups, young workers, immigrant workers, and the San Francisco Labor Council, has called a public hearing to expose the need for holding employers accountable for the costs of health care in San Francisco. San Franciscans from all walks of life support the notion that if you work hard for a living, you should be entitled to health coverage.

We in organized labor, along with our community partners, know the real solution to the health care crisis is a universal health care plan that levels the playing field and guarantees health care benefits for everyone. Whether in San Francisco or the entire United States, health care should be a guarantee, not a privilege.

Last November, 69 percent of San Francisco voters saw the need for employers to pay their fair share. This is a good step in the right direction. This year we want to make that vote a San Francisco legislative reality.

Tim Paulson is executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, which represents more than 100,000 working men and women from more than 140 AFL-CIO unions and constituency groups who live and work in San Francisco.