Friday, December 6 from 6–9 p.m. at Wolf’s 1-11 on Wolf Road

Join your fellow Guild members for drinks and hors d’oeuvres!
Guild members are invited to bring one guest.

Sign up today at albanyguild.org/holiday

Guild leaders agreed Thursday to switch health care to Empire Blue Cross for 2014.

The employee deductible share would stay at $750, and most benefits would remain the same. The only significant change is that out-of-network visits would not be covered.

Some members have asked what that means if they are sick on vacation or have a child outside the area still on their health plan. Blue Cross, like the Blue Shield plan this year, has an extensive network of doctors nationally who accept the insurance. Employees who are suddenly sick or injured are covered for emergencies.

It is only employees who go to a doctor not who does not accept Empire Blue Cross who would not be covered. That means either having to switch doctors or pay for the coverage directly.

The switch is less expensive than sticking with Blue Shield. By moving to Empire, the weekly premium cost for employees would be $46.51 for medical care. Dental care, which would remain unchanged but cost 25 cents more a week next year, will add $2.51 to that bill for a total medical cost of $49.02 per week.

Employees now pay a total weekly bill of $46.17 so the total increase would be $2.85 a week or 6 percent.

To stay with Blue Shield, the cost would rise to $51.20 a week plus the dental coverage. And that would be with a $1,000 deductible.

“The Company is required each year to present us with a comparable plan to the one we have, and we have in recent years often brought changes to the membership for approval because the plans were not comparable,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “This year, the Executive Board decided the new plan is comparable so no vote was needed. If the Company had sought to increase the deductible, cut coverage or change from a composite rate, any of those changes would have rendered the plan not comparable and required membership approval.”

O’Brien was joined by Chief Steward Brian Nearing and Third Vice President Adam McAvoy at the table.

Guild members would see 6 percent rise, no out-of-network coverage.

Union leaders met with the Company Friday afternoon and came close to an agreement on health care for 2014, but decided to get their members’ input first.

The proposal calls for switching from Blue Shield to Empire Blue Cross. The employee deductible share would stay at $750, and most benefits would remain the same. The only significant change is that out-of-network visits would not be covered.

Although those visits represent a tiny fraction of employee medical expenses, the Guild wants to hear from members who have used out-of-network doctors as to why and whether the change would be significant for them. Empire Blue Cross has a slightly larger pool of doctors than the current plan.

The switch would be less expensive than sticking with Blue Shield. By moving to Empire, the weekly premium cost for employees would be $46.51 for medical care. (Dental care, which would remain unchanged but cost 25 cents more a week next year, will add $2.51 to that bill for a total medical cost of $49.02 per week.)

Employees now pay a total weekly bill of $46.17 so the total increase would be $2.85 a week or 6 percent.

To stay with Blue Shield, the cost would rise to $51.20 a week plus the dental coverage. And that would be with a $1,000 deductible. The parties abandoned talk of switching to a multi-option plan that would have meant a major increase for families.

“The dollar amounts for this plan seem the best option,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said, “but all the union leaders wanted to hear what their members think before making a decision.”

O’Brien was joined by Chief Steward Brian Nearing and Third Vice President Adam McAvoy at the table. Leaders from the mailroom and press room also were involved.

Members are urged to ask their doctors if they take Empire Blue Cross. Those who have concerns about ending out-of-network coverage can contact the Guild at 482-9218 or by email at office@albanyguild to discuss the potential impact. The parties will meet again Thursday afternoon so please send your thoughts in by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Sample of plan options offered this week

Discussions about next year’s health care coverage resumed Thursday with a proposal to give employees four different options for health care coverage — all under Empire Blue Cross.

The proposal would end charging employees a composite rate for health care and would instead charge different rates for singles, couples and families. For singles, it would mean significant savings. For families, it would likely mean major increases if approved.

The shift would let employees choose whether to pay a high deductible in return for lower weekly deductions out of their paychecks. Or they could choose a plan with no upfront deductible but with more money coming out of their paycheck every week.

Employees now pay $46.17 a week for health care.

Under the proposals put forth Thursday, the paycheck deduction could range from $10.11 to $30.04 a week for singles, from $19.70 to $58.59 weekly for couples, and from $29.30 to $87.12 a week for a family.

The cheapest plan would require employees to pay for the first $2,000 of medical care and 10 percent of subsequent costs (In all instances, preventative care like checkups would still be at no charge) for a total liability of $4,000. That figure does not count the premium deducted from paychecks.

In essence, employees under that plan would be taking the risk that they would not need much in the way of health care.

The other options were all very expensive for families, with weekly payroll deductions of $70.94, $80.37 and $87.12.

One of the options presented would enable employees to pay no deductible, but they would pay $25 for any office visit and $500 for any inpatient care, $100 for outpatient surgery and $100 for emergency room visits.

The other two plans presented came with $500 deductibles. In one scenario, employees would pay 10 percent of costs for care with a $1,500 out of pocket maximum. In the other, employees would pay 20 percent for care and outpatient surgery with a $100 fee for emergency room visits. In both instances, there would be a $35 co-pay for office visits.

For all but the high deductible plan, costs for medicine would be $10 for generic, $35 for brand name and $70 for nonformulary. Under the high deductible plan, medicines would cost $10/$25/$50.

By far, the biggest issue raised Thursday was the negative impact the change would have on families. According to the company, there are 32 individuals represented by the Guild who are on the company’s health insurance. There are 34 couples and 59 families.

The numbers discussed Thursday were all tentative, and the Company’s plan administrator, Rowlands and Barranca, said they were trying to determine whether there was interest in this approach.

Leaders of the Guild and other unions present, representing the mailroom and pressroom, said they would gather input from their members before talks resumed.

“We’ve paid a composite rate for decades. There is no question that means singles subsidize family coverage, but over the years that has been considered an acceptable choice given that many employees eventually move to family care,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “We appreciate the ability to examine different options but want to make sure we minimize the impact on employees especially after six years without raises.”

Changing health care along these lines would have to be carefully negotiated and any agreement would need to be approved by the membership. The union is awaiting a version of the document presented with the weekly payroll deducation calculations so that we can share those figures with our membership.

The Newspaper Guild of Albany filed an unfair labor practice charge this week over the Company’s targeting of Guild First Vice President Lindsay LaFountain due to her union activity.

When Lindsay was on maternity leave, the Company eliminated her position. Although the contract requires a returning mother to be given a comparable one, Lindsay was given anything but. The Guild was originally told this was an inside sales position, but that proved inaccurate. Lindsay was told she could only set appointments, she could not make sales, and she was given unrealistic goals that were swiftly more than doubled.

Lindsay literally would have to make a phone call every seven minutes to reach the expected number of calls. That’s if she never went to the bathroom, did research or stepped away from her desk to grab a cup of coffee. And while the Company recently described the position as a “telemarketing job,” which is not what inside sales is, Lindsay is not given a list of potential companies to call. She has to get leads from other sales people and find most of them herself, all while making a call every 7 minutes.

Shortly after she began in the position, and before the Company had even decided how Lindsay would get leads, she was put on a performance improvement plan. Despite the Guild’s repeated demonstration no other employee is being asked to hit the metrics Lindsay is, the Company has not moved in changing the demands or allowing Lindsay to sell directly.

But worst of all, Lindsay has been subjected to a series of negative comments from top managers about her union activity. From immediate supervisors to the Human Resources director to the publisher himself, Lindsay has repeatedly faced negative comments about her being a union activist — all in violation of the law.

Lindsay has repeatedly asked the Company for assistance she has not been given: The name and number of employees at Hearst papers in Connecticut who allegedly do a similar job so she can talk to them, a request to visit the Connecticut operation to see how it’s done, or even a manager at the TU to sit by her side and advise her what she should be doing differently.

All this, while Lindsay has faced a very public exposure of issues in her private life.

“Despite all she is going through, Lindsay always comes to work with a smile on her face, focused on trying to do a job despite the obstacles placed before her and spending her own time still trying to help her colleagues,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “The Company has deliberately set Lindsay up to fail and set unrealistic goals no other employee faces, all while making clear her union involvement displeases the bosses. This is illegal, and the Guild will not stand by while one of our best and brightest activists — and one of the Times Union’s best and brightest employees — is subject to such denigrating treatment.”