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A Day of Bad Medicine
NEW YORK, June 10 — The first day of the fourth and final week of UE-GE National Negotiations began on a good
note with the addition of Local 618 (Erie) President Bill DeSantis, and Local 731 (Conneaut) Vice President Pat
Wojtowicz to the UE Negotiating Committee.
It was a day of contrasts. The morning session was a low key affair devoted to a few contract language issues, many
of which were relatively minor. By contrast, the afternoon session featured what can only be described as GE’s deepest
and most thoroughgoing attack on our medical insurance in memory. The best that can be said of the day’s events is
that there is nowhere to go but up from the massive company takeaways which flowed like a malodorous ooze across the
bargaining table all afternoon long.
As noted, the morning represented the calm before the storm, although GE representatives once again made clear their
determination to have a four year contract. This despite the fact that we’ve been on a 3-year schedule since 1960. GE’s
other contract language proposals included some minor housekeeping matters. However, the company did include a couple of
dubious proposals. One of these would facilitate individual deal-making between employees and bosses to substitute time
and one half instead of double time on first shift early call-ins. The other had to do with paying off employees’
vacations in cash rather than with time off in certain very limited circumstances.
On the positive side, GE did come across with some modest improvements in various allowances for apparatus service
shop workers. In addition, GE agreed to an increase in the maximum number of Local Union executive board members
eligible to receive paid union time for Step 2 grievance meetings. And for the first time GE offered to pay lost time
for Local Union reps at Step 3 meetings. These were welcome proposals considering there is never any shortage of issues
to be grieving when GE is your employer. The Company did not respond to numerous UE contract language proposals, but did
say their review is ongoing.
Though it was Tuesday, GE led off the afternoon with a Sunday punch of huge proposed increases in employee medical
contributions out of pocket. Having for years bragged that it "brought good things to life", GE concentrated
its worst attacks on those employees with families. The more dependents the bigger GE’s proposed hit. But no member of
the GE "family" was spared from the company’s proposed banditry. Both pre-65 and post-65 retirees are also
squarely in the company’s sights for substantial contribution increases.
GE wants substantial co-pay increases from post-65 retirees for prescription drugs as well. This is particularly
ironic in that just last week GE once again informed the union that they would not recognize us as the bargaining
representative for retirees. Apparently GE is willing to consult us only when it comes time to decide how much and how
bad the additional burden on hard-pressed GE retirees will be. As expected, the Company also proposed to extend last
January’s co-pay increases in HCP to those workers in the regular CMB plan.
Though hard to find amidst the toxic clouds of the Company’s massive cost shifting, there were a few positive
insurance proposals. These dealt with increases in the lifetime maximum benefit, dental and preventative care schedules,
as well as a small increase in the first day hospital benefits in the Medical Care Plan for Pensioners (MCPP.)
Ominously, no proposed increase in weekly STD benefits was anywhere to be found, at least not yet.
Naturally, the Union Committee was not pleased to be on the receiving end of this GE laundry list of takeaways. At
one point Local 506 (Erie) Business Agent Pat Rafferty observed that no one would be retiring early anymore under GE’s
proposal because they would be unable to afford the insurance! The Company’s final submission, incredibly, was to
establish a joint union-company health care committee to discuss our "mutual interest in obtaining quality health
care at competitive costs." But GE’s performance today is more aptly described as bad medicine at outrageous
cost.
Wednesday will be devoted to GE’s pension proposals.
Representing the Union today were: Pat Rafferty and Frank Fusco, Local 506, Erie; Bill DiSantis, Local 618, Erie; Bob
Brown and Dave Dennison, Local 332, Ft. Edward; Ed Baran, Local 751, Niles-Mahoning; Pat Wojtowicz, Local 731, Conneaut;
Bill Wossum and Marco Coeur, Local 1010, Ontario; UE General President John Hovis and Conference Board Secretary Steve
Tormey. Joining the UE table today were Bob Roberts, IBEW; Mike Barrow, Flint Glass Workers Union; Rudy Gomez, UAW; and
Bob Santamoor, IUE/CWA Conference Board staff. International Representative Chris Townsend represented UE at the IUE
table.
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