GM, Ford may follow Chrysler in negotiating new health care agreement

[struggle4progress]

DETROIT General Motors and Ford may follow Chrysler Group and try to strike new health care deals with the United Auto Workers. <snip>

Starting April-first, about 35-thousand Chrysler hourly workers and retirees will have to pay annual deductibles of between 100- and one-thousand dollars for health care that previously had been free.

G-M and the U-A-W meet April-14th to discuss health care and other areas of their labor contract, which expires in 2007. Ford isn't saying when it next meets with the U-A-W.

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3107093

[indianablue]

1. Wait till GM shoves it pensions onto the government..

The 'Big Three' are going to renege on their pension liabilities it is just a matter of time.

Mark My Words!

They are going to go to Congress and say we are broke if we do not shed these liabilities and the Congress will rollover.

Mark My Words!

[tom_paine]

2. I'd say "It's begun" but it has both long begun and at the same time

not even gotten started.

The Revolution of Lowered Expectations has begun also a long time ago.

But now Phase One of the actual takeaways are beginning in earnest.

The People, as it were, have less power than ever. In many ways no power, though we seem to be following the Imperial Roman model (which is lucky compared to the Nazi Germany model) and thus individuals are still left mostly untouched, as in the Julian Augustan Eras of Rome) so many of the institutions remain in form, though they are hollowed-out shells running on inertia.

[gizmo1979]

3. No Way

We signed the contract now follow the contract!When we sign a contract and the economy goes through the roof they don't reopen the contract.Just take the shortfall out of the CEO's and CFO's salary.

[NNN0LHI]

4. GM, Ford May Follow Chrysler in Negotiating New Health Care Agreement

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB402QBL6E.html

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the nation's two largest automakers, are reviewing their health care costs with the United Auto Workers and may follow smaller rival Chrysler Group in negotiating a new health care contract with the union, the UAW said on Monday.

Chrysler says its new health care pact with the UAW will save it tens of millions of dollars annually.

The agreement, which goes into effect April 1, requires around 35,000 Chrysler hourly workers and retirees to pay annual deductibles of between $100 and $1,000 for health care that previously had been free. The company declined to provide the specific amount it will save.

The change covers Chrysler workers in the company's preferred provider plans, or PPOs, but not the 75,000 hourly employees covered by the company's traditional health care plan or the 32,000 enrolled in HMOs. Those plans will continue to require no deductible, Chrysler said.

more

[Pirate Smile]

5. I know it was a year or two ago that some family members of mine

had to start paying out quite a bit more for their health insurance through their company plans - enough to eat up any raises they had received for the year plus more - because of how much the costs to the companies had risen.

The burden of rising health care prices hits both Employers and Employees.

The Democrats need to find a way to get the Companies on our side of this debate because they are getting squeezed by the increasing health insurance costs also - they trickle it down to the employees and to the customers - or they just don't offer health insurance through their jobs.

Remember the Washington Post article which stated that BushCo was going to get rid of the tax deduction or credit (I don't remember which it is) for Businesses that offer health insurance for their employees in order to make the tax cuts permanent? Insanity.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Before this is over the wealthy are going to need their "gated" communities

Just watch and see.

Don