Well at least we're not paying towards our pension or health care right now
FALSE.
COMPLETELY FALSE.
Hoffa's incompetence in 2013 at the negotiating table made this statement untrue starting in 2018 even when ignoring the hidden costs of healthcare that have pushed onto workers.
First, it allowed the company to offload it's healthcare onto the Central States Health and Welfare Plan fund which is now Teamcare. Under the company's financial statements that year it was listed as a Liability Transfer and
UPS had “removed a significant liability from our balance sheet,”that would “control the volatility of healthcare inflation [i.e., increasing health costs],
and removes the risk associated with providing future retiree healthcare.” In layman's terms the company gave the union money upfront and will make minimal payments to justify cuts (which will be sharper as time proceeds) to workers’ benefits in the future which will be needed as healthcare costs continue to inflate.
Plus other costs were hidden: more than a few because benefits were reduced. For example: can't get the name brand
prescription drugs if a generic alternative is available (before it was your choice)--well you can but you have to pay for it. Same thing happened if your doctor wasn't in their network. And the formulary prescription drug list keeps making more and more medications "brand names" even if the total benefits of 1 pill aren't the same as the 3 generics the plan requires. Oh and good luck having to call about billing on the brand name that isn't available in generic but was denied at the pharmacy as being covered. On top of that they added penalties like loss of TeamCare Family Protection Benefit if you see an out-of-network provider for non-emergency medical care.
Secondly, then
there's the costs not hidden: Starting in 2018 an annual plan deductible was introduced. $100.00/$200.00 (single/family).
Even when you could get coverage continued to get worse. It got to be having to wait 1 year for an individual and 1.5 years for a family before regressing to 9 months waiting now. Then there's the dropping coverage on a weekly basis (one punch rule or the 225/400 hrs work in 3 months for others).
...and on the pension front: you are paying via hidden administrative costs that have risen (less money available). Request the paperwork you are legally allowed to and compare every year.
...now cue the usual we're better than others non-sense that doesn't apply as it ignores what is expected in the jobs.
