Email to webmaster (Gene Lantz) Back to home page
Active UAW members at GM still have to ratify the tentative agreement that negotiators announced. Some of the details are beginning to be known. The UAW announcement is on their web page at http://www.uaw.org/news/newsarticle.cfm?ArtId=359.
It says that the proposal has leadership endorsement. The lowest-income retirees are not to be touched, but "Other UAW-GM retirees will be required to pay modest monthly premiums of $10 for individual coverage and $21 for family coverage. Deductibles and co-pays will be implemented. The tentative agreement asks every UAW-GM member, active and retired, to make sacrifices so that everyone can continue to receive excellent health care coverage today and in the future."
The total effect on retiree income is estimated by the Associated Press (Dallas Morning News, 10/21/05) at around $752/year. AP said on 10/17: "The tentative agreement on health care is projected to reduce GM's retiree health-care liabilities by about 25 percent, or $15 billion, and cut GM's annual employee health-care expense by about $3 billion, CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner said. Cash savings are estimated to be about $1 billion a year."
The union indicates its continuing commitment to national health care as the "most cost-effective and fairest way to fix America's health care crisis. Today, we are more determined than ever to make single-payer national health insurance a reality."
For some time, news accounts have indicated that General Motors has about twice as many retirees as active workers. Other corporations have indicated that they want the same retiree health care concessions that General Motors may get if the new proposal is approved.