St. Michael Medical Center Service and Dietary - We Proposed Historic Health Care Improvements
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Bargaining Team: Susan Mayer, Cook; Pamela Reese, EVS.
On July 21, our Union Bargaining Team met with the Employer and received its response to our latest economic proposal. While the Employer’s offer was disappointing, the session still resulted in meaningful progress.
After reviewing the Employer’s proposal, our team returned to work and finalized a major health care proposal that we have been developing behind the scenes for weeks. If accepted by the Employer, this proposal would significantly reduce what workers pay for health insurance while also substantially lowering deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.
The proposal would provide Service and Dietary workers with the same health insurance plan currently available to the Pro-Tech unit, the Sound Health & Wellness Trust, creating long-overdue parity between the two bargaining units.
The comparison below shows the potential savings under the proposed Sound Health & Wellness Trust.
| Healthcare Cost Comparison | Biweekly Employee Premiums (each paycheck) | Deductible | Out-of-Pocket Maximums | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee Only | Employee + Child(ren) | Employee + Spouse | Family Plan | Individual | Family | Individual | Family | ||
| Sound Health & Wellness Trust | Kaiser HMO | $18.00 | $26.00 | $38.00 | $46.00 | $750 | $1,500 | $2,750 | $5,500 |
| Premera PPO | $22.00 | $34.00 | $46.00 | $50.00 | $750 | $1,500 | $2,750 | $5,500 | |
| Employer's Current Medical Plan Options | Integrated Core | $68.02 | $192.26 | $161.32 | $277.59 | $1,500 | $3,000 | $6,000 | $12,000 |
| Integrated Basic | $20.00 | $139.39 | $114.84 | $196.77 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $6,600 | $13,200 | |
| Integrated HDHP | $0.00 | $85.53 | $72.40 | $126.62 | $3,400 | $6,800 | $6,450 | $12,900 | |
| Sound Health & Wellness Trust premiums include medical, dental, and vision coverage and are the same for all eligible workers, regardless of hours worked. The Employer rates shown are full-time medical premiums only; dental and vision coverage cost extra. Part-time employees pay higher premiums under the Employer’s plans than the rates listed above. | |||||||||
Sound Health & Wellness Trust premiums include medical, dental, and vision coverage and are the same for all eligible workers, regardless of hours worked. The Employer rates shown are full-time medical premiums only; dental and vision coverage cost extra. Part-time employees pay higher premiums under the Employer’s plans than the rates listed above.
Furthermore, the Sound Health & Wellness Trust only requires 60 hours in a month to qualify for employee-only coverage or 80 hours in a month to qualify for dependent coverage. The plan costs the same for all workers, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time.
Combined with market-based wage increases and improvements to shift, weekend, and other premiums, these health care changes would go a long way toward addressing the hospital’s ongoing recruitment and retention problems.
We left the meeting encouraged by management’s initial response to the proposal. While the Employer has not yet agreed to these changes, management expressed a willingness to continue the conversation. Our Bargaining Team is excited to keep pushing toward what could be a truly historic improvement for workers covered by this contract.
Next Bargaining Session
August 5
We look forward to receiving the Employer’s response to our proposed health care changes.
“I feel that this day is going to go down in history.”
— Susan Mayer
