In an initial discussion Wednesday about health care costs for 2015, the Company proposed eliminating the composite rate for insurance over the next three years.

The result would be a decrease in costs to single employees and a large increase of costs for employees with family coverage. Empire Blue Cross would continue to be the health care provider, and the dental plan would also remain the same.

Health-care coverage will be discussed at the union’s monthly Executive Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the union office in the Albany Labor Temple. Members are welcome to attend.

Employees now pay $49.02 a week for health care. In the first year of the Company’s proposal, that would drop to $45.22 for singles, increase to $53.09 a week for two people, and rise to $60.67 for family coverage.

The Company also presented figures for the other two years of the phase-in, but those numbers assumed health-care costs otherwise remaining flat. In the second year, singles would pay $34.80, coverage for two would cost $50.79 and a family plan would cost $66.16.

In the third year, when the composite rate would be completely eliminated, the cost would be $24.69 for singles, $48.54 for two people and $71.49 for a family.

For employees with families, that would mean a 46 percent increase in costs over three years or an added $1,168.44 for a year. Again, those calculations do not include any rise in health-care costs, meaning the actual increase would likely be larger.

The Company says it is seeking this shift to avoid paying an excise tax scheduled to take effect in 2018 under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Under the law, the Company said, a 40 percent tax would be imposed on the portion of most employer-sponsored health coverage that exceeds $10,200 a year for singles and $27,500 for families. For 2015, the composite rate would be $12,510.90.

Of course, this assumes the penalty takes effect in 2018. A new president will be in office by then, and Congress or the new leader could decide to delay or halt that provision of the law.

Information presented by the Company Wednesday showed the biggest drop among union-covered participants in the plan has been among singles. The number of singles taking the Company’s insurance dropped from 47 to 34 in the past year. The number of couples dropped from 52 to 50, and the number of family plans dropped from 88 to 85.

The composite rate has existed for decades. The system means singles carry some of the burden for others, though many have been fine with that over the years because they expected to one day become part of a couple or have children. And, of course, as with any health insurance, the healthy subsidize the sick so that a family enjoying good health could cost less on health care than a single facing an illness.

Without the attempt to phase out the composite rate, the Company said the year-over-year increase would be 3.6 percent. The health-care increase would have been flat, the Company said, if the number of singles on the plan had not dropped.

Guild President Tim O’Brien and Secretary Mark Hempstead listened to the presentation, along with leaders of other unions in the plant. Questions were asked, but the Guild leaders said they would take the information, study it, seek advice from our International and gather input from our members before responding.

We have attached all the documents we were given today if anyone cares to look for themselves: 2014-10-01 Health Insurance 2015

More than a month after the Guild presented a comprehensive offer to settle the contract, Publisher George Hearst showed up Monday with his own ‘proposal.’

Employees would give up the right to any say in who gets laid off and what work gets outsourced, and they would receive a $500 bonus upon ratification and another $500 to be paid on August 1, 2010.

No, we didn’t get the date wrong. The publisher walked in the door, said his offer from 2009 still stands, and didn’t even bother to update his wage offer.  He did not propose any raises for Times Union workers, who have gone without a pay increase for more than seven years.

The union made a comprehensive settlement proposal on July 31.

As a refresher, here is what we proposed:

WAGES: A 2 percent raise retroactive to August 1, 2010; 2.5 percent raises effective August 1, 2014; August 1, 2015, August 1, 2016; and August 1, 2017.

OUTSOURCING: Our proposal says the Company would have to negotiate over any outsourcing, as it has to do under the imposed conditions.

LAYOFFS. The Company could lay off employees out of seniority, but those workers would get enhanced severance. If the Company tried to take away the added severance, it would also lose the language allowing out-of-seniority layoffs.

As we see it, we have three options for a response we will outline at this meeting:

Membership meeting
12:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 24,
at the Colonie Town Library

In an outstanding act of generosity and a sign that the labor movement sticks together, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild has pledged to send $300 a month through the rest of the year to assist Lindsay Connors, a single mother of four who was unfairly targeted and fired by the Times Union.

Here’s what the leadership there said in their bulletin:

“After hearing Lindsay’s story of courage in Orlando and later applauding her winning of the Guild’s Service Award, we were shocked to learn of her callous firing by the Company. We wanted to help Lindsay and her family and a monthly monetary donation will provide some immediate relief,” local representative Tammy Turnbull, who encouraged the Buffalo local to act.

Connors in April helped lead a session on workplace bullying at the Newspaper Guild’s multi-council meeting in Orlando, Fla., where she also received the Guild’s highest honor, the Service Award, presented for outstanding local leadership.

“We thought it was important to help Lindsay and to show solidarity with her and the issues she confronted,” said Guild President Henry L. Davis.

The Albany Guild is truly grateful for this show of support as our local prepares a legal case in support of Lindsay.

It has been some six weeks since the Albany Newspaper Guild made its latest off-the-record offer to management in hopes of finally settling a contract. So far, the company has not reacted to the offer, which appears elsewhere in this blog.

Given that Times Union workers have endured a wage freeze for seven years, now is the time for meaningful negotiations, in which rigid positions give way to pragmatic compromise. Everyone is committed to the continued success of the Times Union, and the people who make it what it is need a fair deal, at long last.

Based on increases in the cost of living, as measured by the U.S. Social Security Administration, people who work at the Times Union have seen their standard of living drop by nearly a fifth during this contract dispute (and that is not including the increasing costs of heath insurance). That is too much burden to place on working families for so long and the time to begin to lift it is now…

If you agree, please share this post on Facebook and Twitter.

After almost a month, Guild members are still awaiting a response to the union’s July 31 proposal to settle the entire contract.

On August 14, Guild President Tim O’Brien sent Publisher George Hearst an email asking when a response could be expected. The publisher never replied.

On Tuesday, O’Brien went into human resources to ask Ruth Fantasia when a reply could be expected. She said the company’s proposal would be reviewed at a corporate meeting next week.

“Our members have waited seven years for a raise and six for a contract,” O’Brien said. “We have made a fair settlement offer, and the Company needs to stop the foot-dragging and give us a response.”