Exactly! BA told us the health plan was solid and would probably be OK at the Employer'a current contribution rate, however, they can only negotiate the rates they pay the Drs. to a certain degree. So to keep the premiums the Company has to pay (which are steep now) at the same levels, we might be asked to pay more at our Dr. visits. Dr. has overhead too. I'll hear that argument, to get our vacation back and a token raise, maybe not a slam dunk win, but a legit compromise.
Don't forget that the companies' Pension and H & W contributions are negotiated as one figure, with increases same as wage increases. It's a separate set of negotiations with whoever is your H & W insurer,.....and whichever type of Pension fund you are in.
Basically,.....except for paying the contractually negotiated rate,.......the employer has nothing to do with H & W ,....or solvency of the pension, for that matter. If the doctors under the insurance umbrella decide they want more money, they have to negotiate THEIR contract with the insurer........and then the insurer would have to re-negotiate THEIR contract with the Union for group coverage.
Pretty much all H & W plans with Unions are solvent. Pension plans have their own special problem of paying benefits to people who are no longer in the Union,....( and are no longer having contributions paid by their employer..)........and also paying ..."orphans"... ( ..a term I find rather obtuse...)....and spouse survivors.
Multi-Employer pensions were predicated on the idea......50 years ago,...... that many employers would be around for,....oh,...say...50 or so, years. Then came deregulation...........
ABF is going to have to decide whether to ...underfund troubled pensions and let them "die on the vine", as it were.......Not a viable option if you want to hire and keep employees....
Or,.....whether to "bite the bullet",......and financially support these troubled funds....whatever it takes to prevent a loss of benefits,......until such a time as the demographics finally straighten out,....inasmuch as the topheavy-with-older seniority boards finally, through attrition,.....get a majority of younger employees who will have 20, or more years of contributions before they consider retiring. That may take a decade. It will happen, though.......
"Orphans"......Everybody demonizes them,.........as you can see above,.....I'm an..."orphan"....to 9 carriers. When I was employed by them, I had contributions made in my name. They went out of business through no fault of my own. There should be no pension penalty for ..."orphans"....