Lets start at the begining and "DEAL" with rumors. The report that the Teamsters gave on Thursday was "slightly" inaccurate. The Teamster negotiating committee reported to us that the company "OFFERED" the Teamsters a chance at taking over the health care plans for the employees..
THIS IS UNTRUE.
It was the INTERNATIONAL that "OFFERED" this to the company last MONDAY in negotiations, to which the Company stated that it would consider. On thursday, the company called the "UNIONS BLUFF" and put the ball into the Teamsters court, and NOT the other way around.
As i said in the conference call thread the day it was made, "THIS OFFER BY THE TEAMSTERS TO TAKE OVER HEALTH CARE IS BAD NEWS"....
Now, what is wrong with it? For those of you on Teamster plans, of course its OK with you, you are NOT on PPO blue shield , AETNA plans like other parts of the country.
5 dollar to zero co pays for doctor visits, prescription drugs, TOP NOTCH optical coverage, 10 dollar co pay for chiropractic services and GOLD PLATED PPO coverage on everything else under the sun.
In exchange, to a member like myself, going to a teamster plan that makes me pay anything HIGHER than 5 dollars in co pays is an INCREASE to me. Further, switching to a TEAMSTER plan could spell disaster for those members who are seeking treatment, anticipating an operation, or have doctors they really like that may not be in the network for the TEAMSTER coverage.
If you have a child that is already being treated for something today, and you are forced to switch coverages, you will find that you will have to start the process all over again and even with different doctors.
These are the types of things you have to consider about health care and leave out the political rhetoric of the issue.
Additionally, there is ONE factor that trumps all the other factors COMBINED.
And that FACTOR is the TEAMSTERS controlling the health care plans. You have to consider that the company while its maintaining our plans, cannot CHANGE anything about our plans for the duration of the contract, whereas, the TEAMSTERS only need the authority of the EXECUTIVE BOARD to make changes that affect us all.
If "WE" approve the Teamsters proposal to take over health care, "WE" are giving them carte blanche to make changes ANYTIME they wish. They could sell us a program that in the begining costs us nothing, only to find out a year later, that the executive board voted to transfer a portion of the costs to the members.
There would be NOTHING we could do about it at that point.
If they vote to make us pay some sum each week, it will come right out of your check each week via "TITAN" and there's nothing you can do about it.
You have to decide if you want to give the TEAMSTERS this kind of power, or leave it with the company and lock them down for a period of years.
For me (IMO) I say leave it in the companys control and lock it down for 5 years, then in wages, place a "CAP" on full time to 35 dollars an hour which is a $1.85 an hour increase over 5 years and our healthcare plans stay UNCHANGED.
We have reached a point in wages (despite profits) where we cannot really go much higher in hourly wages. In the alternative, After the 5 years of the next contract, maybe the company introduces a "BONUS" yearly to all fulltimers in lieu of hourly increases.
That would equate to approx. 2000 a year in bonus, or approx. 40 dollars a week or 5 dollars a day for 52 weeks.
This would save the company millions of dollars in future increases in straight time and overtime. This is a reasonable offer.
Why the Teamsters chose to deal in this years negotiating process in this fashion is beyond belief.
I feel hall has been weak, and Hoffa has let him be WEAK.
Peace
TOS
