. . . do you really think the company would provide free gold standard insurance for free to an employee unless they were held to by the union and its 480,000 members nationwide? . . .
The Union doesn't have anywhere near 480,000 [UPS] members nationwide.
The insurance isn't "gold standard." Not when the Union just negotiated a one year delay for employee coverage, and an eighteen month delay for dependent coverage.
It isn't free. All employees in the Bargaining Unit, (union members and non union members,) pay for their insurance through hourly contributions into the various insurance funds. In New England we pay $8.56 per hour. This is money in lieu of pay, meaning we are paid that much less so the money can instead be remitted to the fund by UPS.
The part-timer insurance fund we are probably referring to in this thread is run exclusively by UPS so UPS doesn't use an hourly coontribution formula, but the effect is the same. UPS pays part-timers that much less, then pays for the operation of the fund through the money it saved.
However it's done, your health insurance, (and you pension,) is paid for by you (or your co-workers). It's all part of your total compensation package.
TANSTAAFL