As we enter the final year of our current collective bargaining agreement, an interesting turn of events has occurred. We recently received notice of open enrollment period and the new rates for coverage  for the upcoming year. As usual, the cost of insurance continues to escalate at alarming pace. Co-pay for insured employee only, will rise $41.40 effective November 1.

Per our agreement, we have a $.24 per hour raise commencing November 1. Now here is where it gets interesting.

    Employee Co-pay Increase   $41.40 X 12 Months = 496.80

    Raise            $.24 @ 2080 hours (40 week avg.) = 499.20

    Total Annual Raise  (pre-tax)                                $2.40

Something has to change! Although many of you average more than forty hours per week, many of us do not. Your annual pre-tax wage increase will likely be higher due to overtime, however after taxes you may not see any increase at all. Reducing medical benefits to falsely show reduced costs is not an acceptable option. To this regard, I'm forwarding an interesting suggestion to the new negotiation team, as soon as the elections are over. I strongly urge each of you to write Congressmen, Senators, and Representatives to urge price constraints upon insurance companies. Perhaps through negotiation and campaigning, we can defeat this issue from both ends.