SUPER VEBA?

[wplap]

News media rumor: UAW to create SUPER VEBA and assume control of all active employee healthcare.

I hope this is false. I don't trust the IUAW, but I would consider this a grave conflict of interest between active employees and our supposed representation. The UAW can never become an indispensable facet.

[ScottR@KTP]

Sounds about right...I know the retirees insurance has gotten worse every year...guess we can assume the same. They better bring big raises every year for this type of shit to even come close to flying.
Super Veba...does that mean when they go bankrupt, they call it super bankruptcy?

[lap65]

Horrible horrible idea, we should have huge raises without this. If they try this ?

[toddstang]

Another excuse to raise our dues.

[justaworker]

People just need to understand, the Iuaw does not give two shits about representing us anymore. They're simply a self serving group using us workers to fulfill their own self interests. It becomes clearer all the time.

[turk182]

I could'nt have said it better. we're completely on our own. The I.U.A.W. is an agent for ford,no longer for us. If your expecting them to take care of you your in trouble.They are looking out for fords best interest,and in turn ford will take care of them.We're no longer a key player. If they put a pile of crap on the table for god's sake turn it down.We're on our own.Lets look out for one another and stand strong.There's more of us than there is of them. God help us if we screw it up this time...

[justaworker]

If they do this, the "union" ceases to exist as we know it. Hell, maybe it's been dead and we've just refused to pronounce it. The union should be us, the workers, who pull together and elect leaders to collective bargain on our behalf and represent us in contract disputes. Somehow, it's perverted itself into its own mini corporation with various slush funds and autonomy to do as they wish.

With the upcoming strike authorization vote, a resounding "yes" supposedly sends a message to ford that we are serious. As if they give a fuck. What would a resounding "no" vote do??? I have lost faith in the international.

[Ex-metalman]

I truly believe both parties already know the outcome of this contract and they're are just gonna let us play and have our fun like we have a say so in the matter..They do all this shit (strike vote ,pics of fuckin rattlesnakes on the Mag cover.etc.)just to make us think they give a shit...When Settles said we have to be easy on the Co I knew we would get bent over..I hope they offer buyouts.If not 25 and out...

[Deleted]

Maybe we can get "King B" to give us sips out of his flask while we walk the picket lines if we strike.

Wish I knew how much of our dues went to free his ass from the DUI conviction.

[rockyt]

HELL NO! Any contract that includes those money grabbing disconnected union fat cats taking over our health care is a big NO for me. This is a horrible idea and of no benefit to us. It's just another case of the IUAW looking out for themselves instead of the people that they are supposed to be looking out for.

[justaworker]

Exactly rocky.... The union controlling our health care is an automatic no vote from me. Not a chance I vote for that.

[dozerman]

company wants iuaw to take over health care just like they did for the retired employes. iuaw are saying they need to do this because of the caddy tax that goes into place in 2018. this tax is only if a family plan is over 27,500.00. we are way below this at around 22,000.00 . not even close , anyway by 2018 this tax will probably be repelled . ford will offer to bring up T2 pay close to T1 to get this done. just ask any retired employee about their health ins now , they will tell you it gets worse every year. same will happen to all us if we let this pass. this was to be our year to get a good contract , what happen ? lets stick together and send the iuaw a big NO IF THEY TRY TO TAKE OVER OUR HEALTH CARE...... P.S. i wouldn't trust the iuaw with my dogs health care. when i hired in in 77 very very few talked bad about the iuaw , now about 99% has nothing good to say about these low down CROOKS. please don't just vote no , but HELL NO.

[rockyt]

According to my 2014 W2 statement, my group health insurance for family coverage was $18,252. That is nearly $10,000 BELOW the cap for the Cadillac tax. Therefore the IUAW and Ford are misleading us if they try to say that the UAW wants to take over the Health care to save us from this tax. There is absolutely no truth to what they are saying and just proves that the IUAW are acting in the companies interest and there own interest, NOT the members. VOTE NO

[wplap]

"The present VEBA has been largely financed by current workers who gave up their cost-of-living and wage increases over the last decade. UAW President Dennis Williams and the entire team negotiating the current contracts—Norwood Jewell (FCA), James Settles (Ford) and Cindy Estrada (GM)—collect $30,000 a year as trustees of the fund"

[cal50]

The IUAW should limit their reach of bargaining for company benefits, not assuming responsibility and providing them because, frankly they are clueless in that realm.

If they try to assume providing more of our benefits there is no way I am voting for that. Maybe it's time to dissolve the UAW and start over.

[rockyt]

I agree. Our leaders are clueless and out of touch with the membership, but apparently we have no power to control them or to replace them so I think if they try to take over our healthcare we need to vote no and decertify the UAW as our bargaining unit and join another Union or start a new one.

[Ex-metalman]

Be cool to start our own union ..

[justaworker]

Remember when the uaw asked for a survey to determine what we wanted out of this contract? You all think anybody asked for them to control our health care? That's all the evidence you need to see that they are not negotiating for us.

[remember1976]

Pardon me for a moment while I confuse all of you with some facts...


The UAW Benefits Failure That Wasn't
By Jeff Green, Bloomberg.com
August 27, 2015 5:33 PM


The experiment looked doomed at the start. Five years ago, General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler, with the blessing of the United Automobile Workers union, created an independent entity to provide health insurance for more than 700,000 retirees and to manage the investments that would finance the benefits. The move was good for the automakers, allowing them to shed crushing liabilities that threatened to impede their recovery amid the Great Recession. The conventional wisdom was that the trust fund would quickly run low on money and ask union retirees to cough up large annual premiums or settle for more limited coverage. “People didn’t believe the math worked,” recalls Art Schwartz, GM’s labor negotiator at the time.

Contrary to expectations, the $61 billion UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust is thriving. Retirees’ drug costs are falling; dental, vision, and other benefits have even been added. What’s more, the investment fund that pays for all of it has booked double-digit annual returns in recent years. “A lot of people thought this wouldn’t hunt,” says Fran Parker, who came out of retirement in 2010 to run the trust. Parker, who previously headed a large health plan in Michigan, said in a July 10 interview that she relished the challenge. “I thought, Oh dear, I’m going to take care of the same people that I took care of when they were active. What a fitting bookend.”

Under Parker, the UAW trust, which is the largest private purchaser of medical care in the U.S., is forging paths in benefits management and emerging as a corporate-governance advocate. “The fund has accomplished some really impressive things,” says Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, adding that there are lessons for other plans in how the trust’s managers have reduced costs by remixing coverage and pushing preventive services.

Skeptics had predicted health-care inflation would continue to run at 3 percent to 5 percent a year, outpacing returns on investments. Fortunately for the trust’s managers, that inflation rate has been relatively low, a little less than 3 percent last year.

Parker, a self-professed “big-data geek,” has beefed up coverage for preventive care and used analytics to pinpoint areas where costs could be better managed. In the past, routine doctors’ appointments weren’t covered, so retirees flooded urgent-care centers and emergency rooms when they fell ill. After administrators discovered that 400 retirees a month are newly diagnosed with diabetes, the plan began paying for programs that teach them how to contain the disease by changing habits. Coverage has also been added for cardiac rehabilitation for heart attack patients, for blood pressure screenings, and for programs to encourage people to buy lower-cost generic drugs. Annual pharmacy savings of about $500 million helped pay for dental and vision coverage.

The trust has $61 billion in assets under the direction of interim Chief Investment Officer Avtar Vasu, who used to be part of the team managing Harvard’s endowment. Investment performance has exceeded expectations, with gains of 14 percent in 2013, the most recent data available. That’s almost triple that year’s returns for pension funds at Ford and GM.

Meredith Miller, the trust’s corporate-governance chief, previously worked in the Connecticut treasurer’s office, where she helped thwart a plan by toolmaker Stanley Works (now Stanley Black & Decker) to quit the state and incorporate in Bermuda. In her current role, Miller leads a group of institutional investors that’s urging Wal-Mart Stores and others to be more forthcoming about when and how they force executives to return bonuses earned for actions later determined to be illegal or unethical. A trust proposal to make it easier for stock owners to appoint directors was endorsed by McDonald’s shareholders in May.

Miller also helms the Human Capital Management Coalition, a group of 24 funds with more than $2.3 trillion in combined assets that focuses on how companies develop policies on safety, diversity, and fair labor practices. Since 2010 the UAW trust has been on a letter-writing campaign to press companies in which it has stakes to add women to their boards, Miller says, because of growing evidence that diversity at the top improves the bottom line. Four of the 34 companies it’s reached out to so far, including CF Industries Holdings and Visteon, have added female directors.

Overall, the UAW’s experiment with the fund has been so successful that union President Dennis Williams is suggesting a similar arrangement for about 195,000 active autoworkers at GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as part of negotiations for a labor contract now under way.

One doubter who’s been happily proven wrong is Jim Kaster, who retired in 2007 from GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. “We were scared to death when they were going bankrupt. We thought it was really going to be tough for us and our families, because we’d seen what happened at other companies,” recalls the 68-year-old. “I’d say now we’re tickled to death about how it’s turned out. They’re doing a good job.”

The bottom line: The UAW’s $61 billion health trust for retirees has logged double-digit returns in recent years.

finance.yahoo.com/news/uaw-benefits-failure-wasnt-213310866.html?.tsrc=applewf


... And now you may carry on with your union bashing. Have a nice day.

[JoePieper]

Aug 28, 2015 19:34:38 GMT -5 rockyt said:

I agree. Our leaders are clueless and out of touch with the membership, but apparently we have no power to control them or to replace them so I think if they try to take over our healthcare we need to vote no and decertify the UAW as our bargaining unit and join another Union or start a new one.

It can be done but it won't be.

[whiteford]

The economy is doing great right now. What happens when it goes south? The return on investments will drop or reverse course. Inflation could rise. " Fortunately for the trust's managers,that inflation rate has been relatively low".

[justaworker]

well, ive learned some things that make this a little easier to stomach. after talking to people in finance and insurance, they seem to think that this is a good idea. apparently, forms of this are happening all over the country. their only concern was that the initial fund be backed by assurances from the automaker that plans would be in place in case the fund falters. wish i could explain it better.

[Ex-metalman]

Here's my take.If we cost the Co 70$ an hour with wages ,insurance ,and retirement ,then whatever the figure is for insurance cost should be the amount of our raise on top of what we deserve for on going negotiations?If it's 12$ an hour give me a 12$ an hour raise plus my raise I'm due (for 10yrs)and ill be happy to pay for insurance !!!Im guessing this won't happen..STRIKE TIME GUYS!!!!Have the balls to show these fuckers(both parties) that this is our lives they're dealing with!!!!Im 51 and been here 20yrs,I don't wanna get fucked now!!!And if you're new or low seniority it's really important for you as well!You let these fuckers get their foot in the door on what we have already and just think what it will be like the next contract?

[justaworker]

Under the scenario they are talking about, Ford would still be responsible for your insurance costs. Just the uaw would set up a trust and our ford money would be combined with the other automakers to create a much larger buying pool. With better options and purchasing power. I don't like the idea of the iuaw controlling much.... But this may not be a bad deal for us.

[pmooret]

I agree, especially when you stated you don't like the idea of the IUAW controlling much. More trustee jobs for the international is probably what will happen if they have control. Having the International in charge would be like having the fox to watch the henhouse. There should be a trustee from every group represented, one salaried, one hourly, and one retiree from each plant of the big three plus one from each corporate headquarters. This should keep everything on the up and up.

[justaworker]

Yeah, for sure going to have to be a lot of eyes on it.

[thevocalmajority]

Aug 31, 2015 13:06:52 GMT -5 justaworker said:

Under the scenario they are talking about, Ford would still be responsible for your insurance costs. Just the uaw would set up a trust and our ford money would be combined with the other automakers to create a much larger buying pool. With better options and purchasing power. I don't like the idea of the iuaw controlling much.... But this may not be a bad deal for us.

The way I understand it is that the companies would be responsible for the initial funding just like in 2007. GM put up 31.9 billion, ford 13.6 billion and fca 11 billion. After that it is up to the IUAW to manage and invest and the company no longer puts forth any money towards retiree healthcare.
If this super veba is what they propose then it better be accompanied by super raises. Because this co-op essentially let's ford off the hook for all future healthcare cost, cost that totaled 800 million in 2011.
www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2015/08/22/uaw-chief-aims-address-health-care-costs-talks/32048489/

[dozerman]

Aug 30, 2015 6:40:31 GMT -5 remember1976 said:

Pardon me for a moment while I confuse all of you with some facts...


The UAW Benefits Failure That Wasn't
By Jeff Green, Bloomberg.com
August 27, 2015 5:33 PM


The experiment looked doomed at the start. Five years ago, General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler, with the blessing of the United Automobile Workers union, created an independent entity to provide health insurance for more than 700,000 retirees and to manage the investments that would finance the benefits. The move was good for the automakers, allowing them to shed crushing liabilities that threatened to impede their recovery amid the Great Recession. The conventional wisdom was that the trust fund would quickly run low on money and ask union retirees to cough up large annual premiums or settle for more limited coverage. “People didn’t believe the math worked,” recalls Art Schwartz, GM’s labor negotiator at the time.

Contrary to expectations, the $61 billion UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust is thriving. Retirees’ drug costs are falling; dental, vision, and other benefits have even been added. What’s more, the investment fund that pays for all of it has booked double-digit annual returns in recent years. “A lot of people thought this wouldn’t hunt,” says Fran Parker, who came out of retirement in 2010 to run the trust. Parker, who previously headed a large health plan in Michigan, said in a July 10 interview that she relished the challenge. “I thought, Oh dear, I’m going to take care of the same people that I took care of when they were active. What a fitting bookend.”

Under Parker, the UAW trust, which is the largest private purchaser of medical care in the U.S., is forging paths in benefits management and emerging as a corporate-governance advocate. “The fund has accomplished some really impressive things,” says Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, adding that there are lessons for other plans in how the trust’s managers have reduced costs by remixing coverage and pushing preventive services.

Skeptics had predicted health-care inflation would continue to run at 3 percent to 5 percent a year, outpacing returns on investments. Fortunately for the trust’s managers, that inflation rate has been relatively low, a little less than 3 percent last year.

Parker, a self-professed “big-data geek,” has beefed up coverage for preventive care and used analytics to pinpoint areas where costs could be better managed. In the past, routine doctors’ appointments weren’t covered, so retirees flooded urgent-care centers and emergency rooms when they fell ill. After administrators discovered that 400 retirees a month are newly diagnosed with diabetes, the plan began paying for programs that teach them how to contain the disease by changing habits. Coverage has also been added for cardiac rehabilitation for heart attack patients, for blood pressure screenings, and for programs to encourage people to buy lower-cost generic drugs. Annual pharmacy savings of about $500 million helped pay for dental and vision coverage.

The trust has $61 billion in assets under the direction of interim Chief Investment Officer Avtar Vasu, who used to be part of the team managing Harvard’s endowment. Investment performance has exceeded expectations, with gains of 14 percent in 2013, the most recent data available. That’s almost triple that year’s returns for pension funds at Ford and GM.

Meredith Miller, the trust’s corporate-governance chief, previously worked in the Connecticut treasurer’s office, where she helped thwart a plan by toolmaker Stanley Works (now Stanley Black & Decker) to quit the state and incorporate in Bermuda. In her current role, Miller leads a group of institutional investors that’s urging Wal-Mart Stores and others to be more forthcoming about when and how they force executives to return bonuses earned for actions later determined to be illegal or unethical. A trust proposal to make it easier for stock owners to appoint directors was endorsed by McDonald’s shareholders in May.

Miller also helms the Human Capital Management Coalition, a group of 24 funds with more than $2.3 trillion in combined assets that focuses on how companies develop policies on safety, diversity, and fair labor practices. Since 2010 the UAW trust has been on a letter-writing campaign to press companies in which it has stakes to add women to their boards, Miller says, because of growing evidence that diversity at the top improves the bottom line. Four of the 34 companies it’s reached out to so far, including CF Industries Holdings and Visteon, have added female directors.

Overall, the UAW’s experiment with the fund has been so successful that union President Dennis Williams is suggesting a similar arrangement for about 195,000 active autoworkers at GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as part of negotiations for a labor contract now under way.

One doubter who’s been happily proven wrong is Jim Kaster, who retired in 2007 from GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. “We were scared to death when they were going bankrupt. We thought it was really going to be tough for us and our families, because we’d seen what happened at other companies,” recalls the 68-year-old. “I’d say now we’re tickled to death about how it’s turned out. They’re doing a good job.”

The bottom line: The UAW’s $61 billion health trust for retirees has logged double-digit returns in recent years.

finance.yahoo.com/news/uaw-benefits-failure-wasnt-213310866.html?.tsrc=applewf


... And now you may carry on with your union bashing. Have a nice day.

[dozerman]

i for one don't believe all this to be the truth. if it's so great than why do 99% of the retired men and women complain about higher copays , less coverage and monthly prem. going up. iuaw and ford probably paid jeff green to write all this bullshit.

[remember1976]

Aug 31, 2015 23:10:02 GMT -5 dozerman said:

iuaw and ford probably paid jeff green to write all this bullshit.

Yeah. That's the ticket! It's all a big conspiracy between the auto company's, the union, and the main-stream media to deceive you poor ignorant auto workers.

ROTFLMFAO!

You are doing the Alex Jones and Glenn Becks of the conspiracy theory world proud!