A22 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 , 2019
BY ELI ROSENBERGGeneral Motors has dropped
health-care plans for tens of
thousands of striking workers, a
move that underscored tensions
between the two sides as negotia-
tions continue days into the stop-
page.
The United Auto Workers,
which represents the approxi-
mately 49,000 workers whose
walkout has effectively halted
GM’s production in the United
States, released an internal letter
Tuesday that said it had been
given notice that the company
had stopped health-care benefits
because of the strike.
The UAW said that it would
“provide medical assistance,” or
cover e mployees’ health-care fees
under COBRA in the interim
from the pool of money it keeps
for strikes.
The strike effectively began
Monday morning, and there have
been few signs of any significant
progress in negotiations. On
Wednesday, GM dismissed 1,200
workers from an assembly plant
in Ontario, Canada, saying the
temporary layoffs were the result
of parts shortages in the United
States because of the strike. The
factory had produced full-size
pickup trucks.
And the health-care move ap-
peared to signal the potential
that the impasse will last much
longer than the last stoppage at
GM, which lasted two days in
2007.
That’s in part because the cur-
rent action unfolds in a more
charged political dynamic, with
an invigorated left wing increas-
ingly focusing on issues sur-
rounding wages and livability
amid a broader debate about
economic inequality.
At GM, which has enjoyed
robust profits as the economy has
churned in recent years, workers
are clamoring for what they say is
a more equitable contract and
more job security after years of
concessions made during the re-
cession.
GM spokesman David Barnassaid the decision to cut workers’
health care was a standard prac-
tice during stoppages, likening it
to the cessation of worker pay-
checks. An explainer about
strikes on the UAW’s website
does note that it typically pays for
worker medical plans in such
situations.
“We understand strikes are
difficult and disruptive to fami-
lies,” GM said in a statement
Barnas distributed. “While on
strike, some benefits shift to
being funded by the union’s
strike fund, and in this case
hourly employees are eligible for
union-paid COBRA so their
health-care benefits can contin-
ue.”
Employee dental and vision
plans will not be covered during
the strike.
Harley Shaiken, a labor expert
at the University of California at
Berkeley, said that the mechanics
of the move were uncommon.
“In the past, what the pattern
has been is when the strike be-
gins, the company continues the
health care, but the UAW pays for
it through its strike fund,” Shaik-
en said in a phone interview.
“This time, going to COBRA so
quickly is very unusual.”
The switch means that em-
ployees will have to be re-en-
rolled in health-care coverage
when the strike ends. Shaiken
said it was possible that the UAW
had an understanding with GM
about the cessation of the health-
care plans.
“They’re sending a message,”he said of GM. “This is a public
relations risk. With all the [na-
tional] focus on health care and
concerns over health care, for the
company to be oblivious to this... misses a beat or two, and that
could become problematic.”
Lance Compa, a lecturer at
Cornell University’s School of In-
dustrial and Labor Relations,
said that cutting off workers’
health care was legal but “quali-
tatively different from halting
paychecks.”
“Many companies in a long-
standing collective bargaining
relationship don’t go there, be-
cause they want to maintain a
decent working relationship with
the union in the long run. They
know that the strike will end
eventually and they have to get
back to normal,” he said.
Workers are forgoing their
paychecks during the strike,
though the UAW will pay them
$250 a week from its strike fund.
GM could be losing as much as
$50 million to $100 million a day
from the stoppage, analysts say.
The strike has drawn support
from presidential candidates
such as Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-
Mass.) and South Bend, Ind.,
Mayor Pete Buttigieg. President
Trump said he was sad to see the
strike and hoped for a quick
resolution.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
said on Twitter that GM’s move to
cut employee health care was a
“dirty” tactic.
[email protected]
GM drops workers’ health care
MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
GM says it is standard practice to cut worker’s health care during
stoppages, but labor experts say the way it did so is uncommon.UAW will cover striking
employees’ bills, a signal
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