Surprise: Obamacare Causing Lots Of Union Contract Issues

by William Teach | May 27, 2014 7:18 am

Healthcare costs are often a sticky point when it comes to union contracts. I can specifically recall several contract negotiations for a company with over 180k employees in recent years, over moving employees from standard plans to Health Care Savings accounts. Now this same thing is playing out, and the higher costs are thanks solely to Ocare

(Fox News[1]) Disputes between unions and employers over paying for new costs associated with the Affordable Care Act are roiling labor talks nationwide.

Unions and employers are tussling over who will pick up the tab for new mandates, such as coverage for dependent children to age 26, as well as future costs, such as a tax on premium health plans starting in 2018. The question is poised to become a significant point of tension as tens of thousands of labor contracts covering millions of workers expire in the next several years, with ACA-related cost increases ranging from 5 percent to 12.5 percent in current talks.

In Philadelphia, disagreement over how much workers should contribute to such health-plan cost increases has stalled talks between the region’s transit system and its main union representing 5,000 workers as they try to renegotiate a contract that expired in March.

Roughly 2,000 housekeepers, waiters and others at nine of 10 downtown Las Vegas casinos voted this month to go on strike June 1 if they don’t reach agreements on a series of issues, the thorniest of which involve new ACA-related cost increases, according to the Unite Here union. (snip)

One pressure point is the higher costs of new mandates, especially the requirement that health plans expand coverage for dependents. For Unite Here, adding that coverage for 14,000 dependents raised costs in the health-care fund run by the union’s Las Vegas local by $26 million since 2011, said union spokeswoman Bethany Khan.

We should feel no sympathy for the union employees, since they overwhelmingly voted for and supported Obama and Democrats. This is so typical of Leftists, as I explain in the Someone Else post[2]: they want all the positive benefits of their policies, but refuse to allow themselves to be burdened with the negative consequences. Let’s remember what is one of the top quotes of 2013[3]

Both of the California residents “vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama,” according to the San Jose Mercury News. They also both anticipated their rates would go up, just not so drastically.

“Of course, I want people to have health care, I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally,” Vinson said.

Waschura said he was “laughing” at House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Republicans until he got his new rates in the mail.

It’s so often other people who pay the price for Liberal policies. If there are strikes in the above, it will be citizens visiting Vegas and trying to get to work in Philly who will suffer.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[4]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[5].

Endnotes:
  1. Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/27/unions-employers-square-off-over-obamacare-costs-in-collective-bargaining/
  2. Someone Else post: http://www.thepiratescove.us/2014/05/06/i-get-email-what-do-you-mean-by-someone-else/
  3. top quotes of 2013: http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/10/08/seriously-obamacare-supporters-didn%E2%80%99t-realize-they-would-actually-have-to-pay-for-new-healthcare-plans/
  4. Pirate’s Cove: http://www.thepiratescove.us/
  5. @WilliamTeach: http://twitter.com/WilliamTeach

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/unions/surprise-obamacare-causing-lots-of-union-contract-issues/