Guild members approved a switch to a Blue Cross health insurance plan with a low premium increase but a potential high cost to the sickest employees.

The new insurance was approved by a vote of 39-7.

Under the new plan, which takes effect January 1, employees will see their weekly payroll deduction increase from $33.81 a week to $35.70, up $1.89. Employees also will see their share of premium costs stay at 21 percent for 2011 rather than rising to 23 percent as the company had originally imposed.

The deductible will also stay at $750 rather than increasing to $1,000 as the company had originally sought.

If we had stayed with MVP, the deductible would have risen to $1,000 and the weekly contribution to $51.37.

Under the new plan, however, members who use health care the most could pay a good deal more.

All employees will pay up to $750 for the deductible. Once employees reach that level, the company will reimburse them for medical expenses up until $2,000 for singles and $4,000 for family coverage.

When those plateaus are reached, employees will then be responsible for paying 10 percent of any medical costs. (Physicals and well child care do not require employees to pay a share.)

The maximum any employee will pay will be $2,000 for an individual plan or $4,000 for a family plan. (The total maximum exposure, counting the deductible, will be $2,750 for an individual or $4,750.)

“Our members recognized that this plan shifts costs, and we will monitor the impact it has on our co-workers over the next year,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “But we also realized that we would burden all employees with a large increase if we stayed with MVP, and we would have forced the company into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more for health care, which we would have expected the TU to attempt to recoup somewhere else. In the end, members weighed the issues and made the decision.”

While turnout was low, some employees told Guild leaders they chose not to vote because they are covered under a spouse’s plan and did not feel they should decide on other people’s coverage.

The Guild and company had examined a CWA fund called the United Furniture Workers Fund as an alternate option, but too many potential problems arose to make that a viable option to implement quickly.

Guild members will vote Tuesday on a proposed switch to a new Blue Cross health care plan.

The plan has benefits and downsides, but overall the union’s leadership felt it was the best option we could get for our members.

The Guild convinced the company to forestall the increase in our premium share from 21 to 23 percent for a year. The union also got the company to keep the employee’s share of the deductible at $750.

The company would pay the rest of the deductible, up to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families. Once employees reached that level, they would be responsible for 10 percent of all medical costs except for physicals and well-child care. That share would be capped at $2,000 under an individual plan and $4,000 for a family plan.

Based on last year’s data, most employees would never have to pay that share. But last year’s data shows that about 20 percent of employees, the sickest, would pay more than under the MVP plan.

In return, the weekly share of the premium would rise from $33.81 under the current MVP plan to $35.70. If we stuck with the MVP plan, the weekly payment would leap to $51.37 and the deductible would rise to $1,000.

“The board was very concerned about the potential impact on employees who are suffering from a serious illness,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “We will do everything in our power to assist people in need. Health care decisions are difficult these days, but keeping the premium down made it hard to resist.”

Publisher George Hearst said an employee who suffers financial hardship can arrange for an interest-free loan with the company. This helped make our decision.

The vote will be held from noon to 2 p.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Executive Conference Room. Members must be in good standing to vote, and the union will be able to collect dues if you want to do so.

The Guild also asked for the company to make its insurance brokers, Rowlands & Barranca, available to answer members’ questions at 1 p.m. Monday in the Executive Conference Room.

The decision to recommend the yes vote came at the end of a day where the parties met in a closed-door session in an attempt to settle the contract and all legal issues. The company listened to the union’s proposal and promised to respond shortly. While the Guild would like to have tied the change in health care to a contract, union leaders also recognize a clock was ticking on getting the insurance plans in place for January 1. Given the ability to contain the premium cost, the Executive Board opted to send the proposal to a vote of members with a yes recommendation. The talks on a full contract settlement will continue

The Newspaper Guild will meet Tuesday with Times Union management to discuss avenues to reach an overall settlement on all outstanding issues between the parties.

At our lawyer’s advice, the session is being held off-the-record because there are pending legal cases involved. Representing the Guild’s members will be President Tim O’Brien, First Vice President Lindsay LaFountain, Chief Steward Brian Nearing and International Representative Jim Schaufenbil.

The meeting comes as the company is proposing to move Guild members into a new Blue Cross health-care plan. The company has proposed keeping the deductible for that plan at $750, rather than the $1,000 originally sought.

While that plan would be less expensive than the other options presented in terms of the health insurance share, it also would shift costs onto the sickest members. Once the company’s share of the deductible of $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families was reached, members would have to pay 10 percent of any additional medical costs (except for well child care and preventative care like physicals). Employees could then have to pay up to a maximum of $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families. This would apply to everything from hip replacement surgery to cancer care to surgery after a car accident.

Last year, that would have cost 26 employees $2,000 or more in added medical expenses. Thirteen of those would have paid an extra $3,000, and six of those folks would have paid the full $4,000. A total of 198 out of 389 employees would not have had to pay any share of the 90/10 split. (These numbers includes people in management and other unions. We were not given a specific breakdown of people in our union.)

“We are certainly willing to discuss this option, but the cost shifting to the sickest employees means this plan is not comparable to what we now have,” O’Brien said. “A membership vote would be required to approve it, and the company cannot legally impose it. That’s why we think it makes sense to discuss health care in the context of an overall settlement of the contract and legal cases.”

The Guild is also seeking outside expert advice on health care. The committee working on that includes Nearing, Third Vice President Brendan Lyons and Treasurer Dan Roesser.

The Executive Board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Guild office in the Albany Labor Temple to discuss the results of the day’s discussion. The membership is welcome to attend that Executive Board meeting

The Newspaper Guild and the Times Union reached agreement this week on the selection of an arbitrator to hear the Guild’s case over the cutting off of our dues last year.

The parties chose an experienced arbitrator, James Collins, to hear the case and decide whether the newspaper improperly cut off dues collection. If the union wins, the company would not only have to resume collecting dues out of paychecks. It would have to reimburse the union for any dues not paid, as happened in Providence, Rhode Island.

In Providence, to be fair to those who paid dues all along, the local gave everyone in good standing half the money paid by the company and required members who were in arrears to pay half of what they owed. This way, everyone paid the same dues.

Tim Schick, the administrative director at the international and past administrator for the Providence local, has clarified what happened there: The company was ordered to pay the back dues. That led the parties to negotiate a full contract settlement. As part of that deal, members in arrears paid double dues through payroll deduction until they became current.

This summer, the Guild won a legal victory in U.S. District Court when Judge Gary Sharpe ordered the newspaper to let the case go to arbitration. The Times Union appealed and sought a stay of his order, which has not been granted. The company is reserving its right to continue its appeal.

“Providence had contract language that was almost identical,” the Guild’s attorney, Barbara Camens, told the Executive Board recently. “I have complete confidence we are going to win the appeal.”

Camens added that the legal victory in Rhode Island created “some of the leverage used to get a contract. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

That has always been the intent of the Guild in Albany too.

“We are glad to see the company agree on arbitrator,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “All we’ve ever wanted was a fair contract that lets our members negotiate when the company wants to eliminate their jobs. This creates significant momentum toward reaching that goal.”

The Guild has other leverage including winning a legal victory in the illegal layoffs of employees last year and the company’s recent desire to switch health care plans to one that is not comparable as the imposed conditions require.

“Each of these victories hopefully creates some leverage,” Camens told the board, referring to the legal cases.

International President Bernie Lunzer agreed during the same conversation.  “I am confident the cases are losers for them,” he said.

Camens noted the legal cases are being paid for by the International and are not costing the Albany local anything extra.

“The leverage trend is in our favor,” Camens added. “We’re winning, and they’re losing.”

Members approved a buyout offer at a meeting Tuesday at the Colonie Public Library, and they also supported changing the bylaws to set Oct. 30 as the date members needed to in good standing on in order to vote in the upcoming Guild election.

The buyout offer will pay three weeks of pay for every year of service, with a minimum of 15 weeks and a maximum of 52. Employees will get health-care coverage for the same period of time, and the company has agreed not to challenge unemployment claims.

The Times Union has said it is targeting specific positions in advertising art/marketing, the Web desk and among district managers, but no one is barred from applying. The company also might approve a buyout if one of the people in targeted areas could then move into that position. (For example, a Web desk person could become a page designer.)

Interested members will have until Nov. 9 to apply. Publisher George Hearst said people will be informed if their buyout is accepted the week of Nov. 15–21, with their last day being the end of that week.

The union members also approved a change to the bylaws that changes the date to be in good standing for the union election from Sept. 30 to Oct. 30. All members who are in good standing as of Oct. 30 are now eligible to vote and will be receiving a ballot around Nov. 19 in the mail. Please read directions carefully and put in the mail before Dec. 14.

Members also learned that the company is in the midst of providing information to the alternative health-care provider the Guild proposed for consideration. We will make information on where that leads as soon as it is available.