Health Care Meeting

On November 30th, the Guild held a special membership about health care in 2006. It was announced that we retain the healthcare coverage we presently enjoy. The good news is that this coverage is among the best in the state and that the original estimates as to the costs for 2006 have come down some. In case you missed the Company’s announcement at the end of last week, Anthem has lowered the cost of the increase it added to cover their share of the Dirigo Health Care plan. That charge will now be just under two percent rather than just under four percent. That will help lower all of our costs.

At the meeting we voted to draft a resolution regarding our recent discussions with the Company about health care. The resolution will attempt to encapsulate the process that occurred as well as to make a statement as to where the Guild plans to head in the future. This resolution will be presented for a vote at our next general membership meeting next Tuesday.

We also took a non-binding vote on the financial aspects of the company’s proposal in light of the large increase in our health insurance premiums. The resolution that was passed stated that if the proposal had been limited to the changing of the health care plans in order to save Guild members and the Company money and had not involved substantive changes to long standing contract language, that we supported that in principle. In other words, we would have taken a good faith vote on the numbers. That vote did not occur as the proposal also sought to remove the design of the healthcare plan from collective bargaining. We understand that the other unions throughout the company have been offered the same proposal and we will let you know what they decide.

All Guild members want to take this moment to thank those members of the healthcare committee who worked long and hard over the last several months. The Guild is much better informed and prepared for our negotiations in the coming year and we could not have done that without your help.