InsideUPS
Well-Known Member
One Health & Welfare concept that I am intimately familiar with is Teamster Locals obtaining their own benefit plan from local providers rather than going with TeamCare.
Forum comments such as:
"Vote no! Guy's let's see what the western conferance get's. They have not released any new detail's to their new improvements in healthcare. Vote no and see if we can get the same."
Why is it that no one thinks about the risks and long term ramifications of Teamster Locals obtaining their own healthcare plans?
Our Local here in Ohio has a local H & W plan for our full-time workers (much like the Western Conference). As a PT steward, I initially argued here on BC and through petition to Ken H that our part-time work force should be allowed to join our Local H & W plan rather than TeamCare. A MAJOR concern that I always had was : "What IF our Local plan somehow decides to raise premiums, reduce benefits, etc.. The contract arrangement with our local H & W provider does NOT run UPS-contract to contract. Our BA is left on his own to negotiate rates, benefits, etc..
Not ONE of the FT workers in our building that I polled had any idea when their H & W agreement ended. The answer is that it ends in three years. Again, what happens when that contract ends? Premiums really cannot be raised considering that UPS is paying a fixed amount per driver. The only other recourse is to reduce benefits in which our FT workers will have no recourse.
Summary - In all good conscious, I could no longer attempt to guide our PT workforce into a plan that had so many uncertainties. People have been putting TeamCare under a microscope but have NO CLUE about the "microscopic" details of their potential H & W plan (such as the Western Conference). Furthermore, many local plans DO NOT have complete coverage when traveling away from home.
Unions are about Unity......splitting off to separate plans will only weaken our Union more which is exactly what UPS would like. The petty, greedy, comments exemplified above will only continue to weaken us. It is my hope that some day....... we will ALL be in the same plan with the same benefits. I for one am happy to be away from UPS and their insurance. Anyone that remembers the forced ending of the "Thrift Plan" should understand how UPS can be deceptively ruthless in their business planning. Little did we hourly employees know that we were being forced to sell our "stock" in the company BEFORE the IPO.....
Forum comments such as:
"Vote no! Guy's let's see what the western conferance get's. They have not released any new detail's to their new improvements in healthcare. Vote no and see if we can get the same."
Why is it that no one thinks about the risks and long term ramifications of Teamster Locals obtaining their own healthcare plans?
Our Local here in Ohio has a local H & W plan for our full-time workers (much like the Western Conference). As a PT steward, I initially argued here on BC and through petition to Ken H that our part-time work force should be allowed to join our Local H & W plan rather than TeamCare. A MAJOR concern that I always had was : "What IF our Local plan somehow decides to raise premiums, reduce benefits, etc.. The contract arrangement with our local H & W provider does NOT run UPS-contract to contract. Our BA is left on his own to negotiate rates, benefits, etc..
Not ONE of the FT workers in our building that I polled had any idea when their H & W agreement ended. The answer is that it ends in three years. Again, what happens when that contract ends? Premiums really cannot be raised considering that UPS is paying a fixed amount per driver. The only other recourse is to reduce benefits in which our FT workers will have no recourse.
Summary - In all good conscious, I could no longer attempt to guide our PT workforce into a plan that had so many uncertainties. People have been putting TeamCare under a microscope but have NO CLUE about the "microscopic" details of their potential H & W plan (such as the Western Conference). Furthermore, many local plans DO NOT have complete coverage when traveling away from home.
Unions are about Unity......splitting off to separate plans will only weaken our Union more which is exactly what UPS would like. The petty, greedy, comments exemplified above will only continue to weaken us. It is my hope that some day....... we will ALL be in the same plan with the same benefits. I for one am happy to be away from UPS and their insurance. Anyone that remembers the forced ending of the "Thrift Plan" should understand how UPS can be deceptively ruthless in their business planning. Little did we hourly employees know that we were being forced to sell our "stock" in the company BEFORE the IPO.....