Date: Thursday, December 6
Time: 6–9 p.m.
Location: 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.

CLICK HERE to sign up.

Leaders of the Guild, mailroom and pressmen’s unions united Tuesday in their opposition to the Company’s proposal to raise health care costs by more than 30 percent.

All four union leaders told the company they are willing to have their members pay the same percentage year over year increase that the company would pay, about 12.5 percent.

We will keep you posted when we receive a response.

The company’s proposal on health care would raise costs for Guild members by more than a third, while the company’s costs would rise only 10 percent or less.

A review of the data presented Friday shows that the company is trying a back-door method to make employees responsible for all of the deductible not just the first $750.

While employees would still be reimbursed when passing that number, the company is now trying to take that cost and charge it back to the members each week.

For a renewal of the plan without the vision benefit, for example, the company would add $600,000 for “estimated reimbursement” to the annual cost. That’s the amount he company estimates it reimburses members each year when they pass the $750. Previously the company has always covered that cost and not sought to pass it back onto the members.

“The company knew that raising the deductible to $2,000 for a single person or $4,000 for a family would be unacceptable,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “So instead it is trying a back-door method that would charge all members for that cost even those who don’t reach the $750.”

Publisher George Hearst told the health insurance brokers a 25 percent increase in health care costs was unacceptable to the company, but he apparently had no such qualms about trying to force an even bigger increase on his employees.

If the members’ increase was at the same rate at the company’s, Guild members would pay an extra $3.96 a week for the same plan minus the vision benefit only one person used, rather than $13.94.

Another option raised the deductible to $1,000 but lowered the maximum payment under the 90/10 split to $1,500 rather than $2,000. (The Guild has sent the company an email asking whether that would also drop the threshold for paying the 10 percent to $1,500 too, which would mean more members having to pay.)

Under that option, the company says the cost to our members would go up $13.46 a week. But if Guild members paid the same rate of increase as the company, it would go up only $3.38.

“Our members have not had raises in more than 5 years,” O’Brien said. “For the company to propose raising their health care costs by more than a third is unconscionable. By trying to impose this back-door ending of its share of the deductible, the company is trying to impose a $10 a week pay cut on members that has nothing to do with the year over year increase in the cost of health care.”

Fortunately, the imposed conditions require any health care plan to be offered to be comparable to the existing one. The shifting of the “estimated reimbursement” onto the backs of employees renders this plan not comparable.

The Guild’s Executive Board will meet at 12:30 p.m. Monday in the cafeteria to decide on its official response. O’Brien has also reached out to the leaders of the other unions to share his findings.

Leaders of the unions representing employees of the Times Union met with the company Friday to get a look at health-care options for next year.

The company’s consultants, Rowlands & Barranca, said Blue Shield had first come to the table with a 24 percent increase in costs next year. The brokers and Blue Shield negotiated and brought that increase down to 12.7 percent.

One way that was done to eliminate a small vision benefit the company said only one Guild member used because it was available at a limited number of places. Under the Guild contract, the company provides its own reimbursements for contact lenses and eyeglasses that would be unchanged.

The parties are looking at three different options.

Right now, Guild-covered employees pay 23 percent of health care costs, less than some of the other unions’ members. When the company imposed conditions in 2009, that was the top percentage imposed and it cannot be increased further without agreement.

For members, that cost is now $37.76 a week. To keep the current Blue Sheild plan minus the vision benefit, that cost would rise to $51.71 next year, up $13.94. Under that scenario, the deductible would remain $750.

The second, and least appealing option, was to raise the employee deductible  from $750 to $1,000. That plan would still require employees to pay 10 percent of their medical costs once they acquire $2,000 in medical bills for an individual plan or $4,000 for a family plan. It would still have a cap on employee’s liability once they hit that 90/10 split of $2,000 for an individual plan and $4,000 for a family.

Under that option, the weekly contribution would be $50.45, up $12.69. While that increase is smaller, for most members the higher deductible would make this a more expensive option.

The final option presented also included raising the deductible from $750 to $1,000. Under that choice, however, people’s liabilities would drop to $1,500 for an individual plan and $3,000 for a family plan. The maximum liability under that 90/10 split would similarly drop to $1,500 and $3,000 rather than the current $2,000 and $4,000.

If we go with that option, the weekly contribution would rise to $51.22, up $13.46.

The question the unions need to decide is which option the majority of members would prefer. The Guild thinks there are arguments to be made for the first option — keeping the deductible at $750 — and for the third option, raising the deductible to $1,000 but lowering the total liability.

The company is crunching some numbers for the unions on how many people ended up paying the maximum last year.

The Guild’s Executive Board plans to meet at 12:30 p.m. Monday in the cafeteria to discuss how to proceed. Before any decision is made, we will call a membership meeting so you can talk to us directly.

Guild members today delivered the Halloween card our members signed last week.

Inside, the card said “Another year without raises? That’s scary!”

The presentation to Publisher George Hearst was the latest step in our mobilizing effort to make clear that a contract and raises are desired by all members. It’s not just the Guild leadership that wants to see us get a contract that offers flexibility on layoffs and outsourcing without giving the company the blank check it has demanded.

Members Cathleen Crowley and Bill Federman delivered the card to the publisher on behalf of the membership and spoke to Hearst about the members’ support for a fair settlement.