Health insurance for striking GM workers reverts to union

UAW EYES OPTIONS

BOWLING GREEN, KY. • General Motors Co. shifted health insurance costs for its striking workers to the United Auto Workers union as its members walked the picket line for the second day on Tuesday.

The UAW on Monday launched the first companywide strike at GM in 12 years, saying negotiations toward a new national agreement covering about 48,000 hourly workers had hit an impasse.

This year’s talks between the union and GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) were expected to be tough, with thorny issues such as health care costs, profit-sharing and the use of temporary workers on the table.

Negotiations between GM and the union resumed on Tuesday morning.

Workers on picket lines outside GM factories waved signs declaring “UAW On Strike.” In Bowling Green, Kentucky, they blocked the three entrances to the assembly plant, which normally builds the Chevrolet Corvette.

Salina Alexander, who works in the Kentucky plant’s paint shop, said the strike is about GM sharing some of its profits with union-represented employees who helped bail out the carmaker during its bankruptcy. “We hung in there with them. They can give us something back.”

Meanwhile, GM said coverage for the striking workers’ health insurance reverted to the union, which unsuccessfully sought to have the No. 1 U.S. automaker cover those costs through the end of the month. That places another drain on the union’s strike fund.

“We understand strikes are difficult and disruptive to families,” GM spokesman Jim Cain said in an email. “While on strike, some benefits shift to being funded by the union’s strike fund, and in this case hourly employees are eligible for unionpaid COBRA so their health care benefits can continue.”

GM has said in the past that it annually spends about US$1 billion a year on health care coverage for its hourly workers, suggesting the monthly cost per worker is in the range of US$1,700 to US$2,000.

The UAW on its website said its strike fund covers certain benefits such as medical and prescription drugs, but not dental, vision and hearing.

A UAW spokesman had no immediate comment, but Terry Dittes, vice-president in charge of the union’s GM department, in a letter to union leaders on Tuesday, said the UAW would review its legal options regarding GM’s decision.

During the walkout, UAW members also receive US$250 a week from the union’s strike fund.

In a statement on Sunday, GM outlined its offer to the union, saying the package included plans for Michigan and Ohio assembly plants currently lacking products, US$7 billion in U.S. investment and a signing bonus of US$8,000 per worker. GM also said the union would retain “nationally leading” health care benefits.

Charlie Highlander, 59, who also works in the Bowling Green plant’s paint shop, said the strike was about protecting the rights of younger workers who are paid at a lower wage or are hired as temporary workers.

“I’m out here mostly for them,” he said.

“It’s about the young people for me.”