'For our union employees if you have any questions about our proposal you may ask us. If you have feedback or input about our proposal you must bring that to the union, the Union is the lawful representative of our union employees. We simply want employees to know what we are offering and why.'
Q1. How much will retiree medical cost me under the RWT-Plus plan?
A1. Some employees don't realize that under this plan once they retire they will be charged a monthly fee to have the benefits.
A1. We don't know what each retired person will be required to pay in the future. We do know that the cost to a retired employee to keep the plan has been going up regularly. This is a link to the page that details what you will pay, www.jc28.org/retire_non_medicare.htm. The first two rows in the table shows the price components, they show that the company pays 64.85, (94.85 on 1/1/11) for each current employee per month who is compensated 80 hours in the month and in addition each retired employee must pay an additional $359.00 each ($718.00 for husband and wife) per month when they retire. You will have to decide if this is a good plan for you.
One other note is that the last sentence of the first paragraph on this webpage states, “No Plan participant should believe they have a vested right in these Plans or that the benefits of the Plans will necessarily be granted indefinitely.” This means Oak Harbor may pay into the plan every month and there is no guarantee that this plan will exist for you when you retire or that when you retire it may not always be available.
There is an alternative Retiree Plan offered by the Teamsters national site, to be eligible you must have been an active teamster for 1 year. www.teamstar.com/erhp.asp.
Copyright 2008 Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc. All rights reserved