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  • Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

    The union has stated that a member would pay about $224/mo. to cover their 20% co-payment of their medical premium. Does that mean that their premium is approximately $1120/mo.? I am currently covered by COBRA and pay $212/mo. which is about what my former employer was paying. I have a very good medical plan which also includes drugs and vision and dental. Am I reading this wrong or is it misinformation? I am a retired from Local 996 so I am definitely not anti union but it seems like no one is questioning this figure...or maybe no one cares.

  • #2
    Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

    That may be a family of four premium, but even so it seems high. I'm paying $297/month for single Kaiser.
    http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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    • #3
      Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

      Originally posted by Linkmeister
      That may be a family of four premium, but even so it seems high. I'm paying $297/month for single Kaiser.
      I'm sure the $297/month you pay is 100% of the premium and not 20% of the premium, which is what the employer is asking for. A year before I retired our new contract required a 20% copay of our medical premium and that was $22.10/ month if I remember correctly.
      I sure hope the cement workers don't strike over some 20 odd dollars a month. You have to consider that the employer pays for all the benefits, nothing comes out of the employees wages.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

        Originally posted by D'Alani
        I'm sure the $297/month you pay is 100% of the premium and not 20% of the premium, which is what the employer is asking for. A year before I retired our new contract required a 20% copay of our medical premium and that was $22.10/ month if I remember correctly.
        I sure hope the cement workers don't strike over some 20 odd dollars a month. You have to consider that the employer pays for all the benefits, nothing comes out of the employees wages.

        actually that sounds right, every march or so the premium jumps up by 10%.. Back in 2001 when i was working at the Teamsters office the rates that the EMPLOYER had to pay was about 800+ for HMSA, and something slightly lower for Kaiser and HMA plans. Out of all them HMA was the cheapest.

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        • #5
          Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

          Yeah, I should have said that was full premium. I'm a self-employed researcher; anybody need any work done?
          http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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          • #6
            Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

            That's full premium for a family plan and if it was a Teamster's negotiated medical coverage,it was a damned good medical plan compared to what's out there for the average joe.

            Anyone remember HMSA's Plan "A" ? That was probably the best of the best and quite expensive for the employer to cover as well. But for the recipient it was an incredible medical plan. I believe HMSA dropped that plan as medical insurance costs started to rise.

            But $224 a month to cover a 20% co-pay sounds about right. When I retired and had to pay medical insurance on my own for my family, I went thru Kaiser and paid about $700 and some change every month for coverage. If you pay only $224 a month for a family plan, that's good. Trust me...you're getting it cheap!
            Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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            • #7
              Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

              Hawaiian Cement Workers' Strike Averted
              Hawaiian Cement and the Teamsters Union reached a tentative agreement early Thursday morning to avoid a strike. The workers were set to walk off the job at midnight. The two sides continued to talk after meeting at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. The tentative agreement was reached after 2 a.m. Thursday. Both sides said they were pleased with the agreement.
              According to KITV, the details are:
              • Contract covers five years
              • Workers to pay 20 percent of health coverage
              • $31,000 increase over the term of the contract
              • No six-day work week
              So were the workers not paying any portion of their health plan premiums previously? To me, 20 percent sounds like quite a deal (I pay half, and that's on a 'family of five' plan -- eep!).

              Shook Mel Kahele's hand in the studio this morning...

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                The cement workers will be getting $33 per hour, so the $240 medical expense equals a measly 7 hours of work. They also get a ton of overtime work at time-and-a-half (close to $50 per hour), and most are making over $100,000 per year.
                That $100,000 is over $8,300 per month. If they have to pay $240 per month for medical, that still leaves them with over $8,000 per month. And for this, they're whining and threatening to strike and disrupt our lives?!?
                My heart is not breaking for them.
                .
                .

                That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                  Originally posted by pzarquon
                  Hawaiian Cement Workers' Strike AvertedAccording to KITV, the details are:
                  • Contract covers five years
                  • Workers to pay 20 percent of health coverage
                  • $31,000 increase over the term of the contract
                  • No six-day work week
                  So were the workers not paying any portion of their health plan premiums previously? To me, 20 percent sounds like quite a deal (I pay half, and that's on a 'family of five' plan -- eep!).

                  Shook Mel Kahele's hand in the studio this morning...

                  wonder what's happening with some Teamster members trying to oust Mel Kahele out of office...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                    Originally posted by LikaNui
                    The cement workers will be getting $33 per hour, so the $240 medical expense equals a measly 7 hours of work. They also get a ton of overtime work at time-and-a-half (close to $50 per hour), and most are making over $100,000 per year.
                    That $100,000 is over $8,300 per month. If they have to pay $240 per month for medical, that still leaves them with over $8,000 per month. And for this, they're whining and threatening to strike and disrupt our lives?!?
                    My heart is not breaking for them.
                    i gotta say though the Teamsters and ILWU are the best paid union workers and they have a really good retirement benefit package!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                      Originally posted by CranBeree
                      i gotta say though the Teamsters and ILWU are the best paid union workers and they have a really good retirement benefit package!
                      That's an understatement.
                      That's also the main reason it's so damned expensive to live here.
                      .
                      .

                      That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                        Originally posted by LikaNui
                        That's an understatement.
                        That's also the main reason it's so damned expensive to live here.

                        the stories I could tell....*sigh* sometimes i wished i were a business agent for the Teamsters office but then again i don't think anyone could pay me enough money to deal with the office politics and the brown nosing...

                        personally, i think they are getting ridiculous with all these strikes...first it was the bus then i forget i think it was the cement workers back then too, and then now this.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                          Originally posted by CranBeree
                          the stories I could tell....*sigh*
                          Me too. Back in the day I used to do voiceovers for commercials (radio and TV) and off-camera announcing for a network TV show. This was a couple of decades ago, mind you, and for doing that I was earning the AFTRA union scale of (are you sitting down?)... $350 an hour.
                          That is not a typo. It was $350 an hour.

                          And that's not including residuals (payments based on where and how often your work aired). I did one national commercial for a carpet manufacturer from which I earned close to $20,000... and I spoke exactly three words. Utterly insane.
                          I wasn't a brain surgeon and I wasn't doing anything that would ensure peace and prosperity for mankind. No real skill involved, to speak of. I brought nothing to the table but an unusually deep voice. And for that fluke of nature I was earning much more than surgeons or firefighters or teachers or other people who actually deserved that kind of pay. How ridiculous is that?!?
                          (TutuSue, or some of you other media experts: help me out here. What is AFTRA scale for voice talent now? $450 or $500 an hour? More?)
                          One more example.
                          I was off-camera announcer for a network talk show, and we were to give the network seven pilot episodes. (It was a health-oriented talk show and the hosts were Gary Collins and MaryAnn Mobley.) Now, other than the opening intro for each show ("Welcome to Looking Good! Today's guests are... blah blah") all I had to do was the old "We'll be right back after these commercial announcements" and a few variations thereof. They could've taped a dozen or so of those and called it good, but no... they paid me union scale to sit there hour after hour, day after day, while they fussed with lights and makeup and changed the set and all the other myriad details. Ka-ching.
                          One day, it got to early evening and they decided to move a picture (hanging behind the hosts' desk) a few inches to one side. There was a ladder and hammer right there, and it could've been done in less than a minute. But no... had to use a union carpenter. And he'd already gone home for the day. So everything stopped for well over an hour until he came back. He got overtime, meal reimbursement, travel costs, and on and on, and the rest of us got paid for waiting. All told it cost something like $15,000 to move that stupid picture a few inches. Un-freakin'-believable.
                          So yeah, unions are great for those who belong... but the way they drive prices up for everyone else is beyond shameful.
                          .
                          .

                          That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                            Originally posted by LikaNui
                            Me too. Back in the day I used to do voiceovers for commercials (radio and TV) and off-camera announcing for a network TV show. This was a couple of decades ago, mind you, and for doing that I was earning the AFTRA union scale of (are you sitting down?)... $350 an hour.
                            That is not a typo. It was $350 an hour.

                            And that's not including residuals (payments based on where and how often your work aired). I did one national commercial for a carpet manufacturer from which I earned close to $20,000... and I spoke exactly three words. Utterly insane.
                            I wasn't a brain surgeon and I wasn't doing anything that would ensure peace and prosperity for mankind. No real skill involved, to speak of. I brought nothing to the table but an unusually deep voice. And for that fluke of nature I was earning much more than surgeons or firefighters or teachers or other people who actually deserved that kind of pay. How ridiculous is that?!?
                            (TutuSue, or some of you other media experts: help me out here. What is AFTRA scale for voice talent now? $450 or $500 an hour? More?)
                            One more example.
                            I was off-camera announcer for a network talk show, and we were to give the network seven pilot episodes. (It was a health-oriented talk show and the hosts were Gary Collins and MaryAnn Mobley.) Now, other than the opening intro for each show ("Welcome to Looking Good! Today's guests are... blah blah") all I had to do was the old "We'll be right back after these commercial announcements" and a few variations thereof. They could've taped a dozen or so of those and called it good, but no... they paid me union scale to sit there hour after hour, day after day, while they fussed with lights and makeup and changed the set and all the other myriad details. Ka-ching.
                            One day, it got to early evening and they decided to move a picture (hanging behind the hosts' desk) a few inches to one side. There was a ladder and hammer right there, and it could've been done in less than a minute. But no... had to use a union carpenter. And he'd already gone home for the day. So everything stopped for well over an hour until he came back. He got overtime, meal reimbursement, travel costs, and on and on, and the rest of us got paid for waiting. All told it cost something like $15,000 to move that stupid picture a few inches. Un-freakin'-believable.
                            So yeah, unions are great for those who belong... but the way they drive prices up for everyone else is beyond shameful.
                            this post cracked me up, not the content of it but the memory of my old job, i had to help set up a co-worker's computer and what nots and after i did it, she filed a grievance report to the union stating that it wasn't in my job description..doh! why the hell did you ask me to fix the darned thing in the first place!! &**@*@*@$$*!!!! don;t get me wrong im not anti union at all, but i have worked on both sides of the fence and i'd prefer to be in the non bargaining unit.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Hawaiian Cement Negotiations

                              Originally posted by CranBeree
                              wonder what's happening with some Teamster members trying to oust Mel Kahele out of office...
                              Yeah what's up with this? Haven't heard anything of what happened after the three representatives from the International came down to investigate Mel and some of the going ons at the union office. I think Mel feels that a threat of a strike is his best weapon and that's a shame. The cost of the co pay is manini as compared to not only what they make annually but also to what most others pay for lesser coverage. But I'm glad they reached an agreement and avoided a strike.

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