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Some autoworkers wary that health-care costs could fall onto union
By Katie Merx Detroit Free Press
Published on Thursday, Sep 06, 2007
DETROIT: A growing belief that the UAW will allow Detroit's automakers to offload health costs onto the union is elevating anxiety levels among auto factory workers, with at least one opposing a deal that hasn't been reached yet.
As the auto companies negotiate a new contract with the UAW in advance of a Sept. 14 expiration, some union members are concerned that the companies' push to create a special retiree health-care trust known as a ''Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association,'' or VEBA is too risky and could leave them without coverage once they retire.
Others see it as a way to protect benefits even if an automaker goes bankrupt.
The Detroit automakers have asked the UAW to agree to a VEBA that would take on responsibility for a significant portion, if not all, of the companies' hourly retiree health liability.
The proposal appears similar to one that the United Steelworkers and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. agreed to late last year as part of a settlement of an 85-day strike.
The Goodyear-USW VEBA still must get federal court approval before it can take effect. Akron-based Goodyear agreed to pay as much as $1 billion into the VEBA, which then will be responsible for paying union retiree health costs.
DETROIT: A growing belief that the UAW will allow Detroit's automakers to offload health costs onto the union is elevating anxiety levels among auto factory workers, with at least one opposing a deal that hasn't been reached yet.
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