They found the E/B at fault also? Don't forget that! Many people read that arbitration! Arbitrator used words like foolish etc when explaining Dave! Let's not forget the other drivers suspended for 3 days! Then E/B sends out fliers and puts on website VICTORY??? That was far from a victory! Victory is something you feel in your heart and soul man. Victory is when you go to war and beat your opponent handily! Not being handed a loop hole bye an arbitrator! That could cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars!! As for your tuff choices? The board gave us a worse health plan than before, raised copays, and made going to the doctor a nightmare! The only thing they did was minimize the raises that we deserve! Our families deserve! Our board has a reserve of what? 20 million! Our members throughout the local have 10-15 million dollars of medical bills that our Board has refused to pay! Members have submitted there bills several times with denial from H/W! So please tell me who these tuff choices helped!! Not us!!! I had a guy tell me that the union refused to pay for a procedure, now he's on the hook for over 80,000 dollars! Tell board to get off our money and pay these bills! Let our members families live debt free from these medical bills! Stop destroying our CREDIT!!!!
You are right, the arbitrator said that Dave jumped the gun and the union funds will take a hit. But the stewards were reinstated because OUR UNION made a strong case that UPS management was WRONG for walking them off!! Redmond/Buhlert/Donato couldnt get Liam back!! Actually they didnt want him back either.
As for the 3 day suspensions, those drivers were offered to work in our union hall to make up lost wages. But now at least they have union officials who will stand up to management and make them think twice before walking off members!!
Again you are right, it wasnt TOTAL victory but those guys got their jobs back and that is a win. It was a win with a few side effects. A little embarassing for Dave, a fine against the union for STANDING UP FOR US!! But UPS lost by having to reinstate Greg and Jerry.
As for "the board gave us worse health plan than before", are you trying to say that Magnacare was better than Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield?? We have more doctors now and it costs the plan less than before. The emergency room fee has made people stop abusing the very expensive emergency rooms. Yes, the copays went up. Health care goes up every year. Blame the greedy insurance companies. Blame the greedy pharmaceutical companies. Blame Redmond/Buhlert/Donato for not negotiating enough money in their last contract. Oh, by the way Buhlert and Donato were BOTH on the E/B that had their plan-in-waiting until after theri election to implement higher co-pays and fees, etc. And yes it was a touch choice. You just get elected and you HAVE to raise co-pays and other fees or the Fund will go broke!! Yeah that is not the greatest political move but it was the responsible move. It had to be done!! It costs me more when we take our kids to the doctor but Im glad we still have a fund to talk about. Lets not forget that with those surpluses, maybe they can reinstate things we lost??
As for members with high bills, let me say: we are all adults and as an adult it is our responsibility to read all the information we get from the union or the fund. When we get letters sent home stating NOT TO GO OUTSIDE THE PLAN and that if you do IT WILL NOT BE COVERED, we as adults should read them with our spouses and if we do not understand it we can pick up a phone and call the hall. In my building our BA stated in several parking lot meetings about the changes and the do's and dont's. It was stated at every General Membership Meeting too!! Granted some of the people working in the H/W Fund can be nasty and arrogant, but they aer there to answer our questions. We pay them to do just that!!