March 6, 2009

The Union Bargaining Committee met with Fred Meyer Representative Carl Wojciechowski on March 4, 2009.  We spent time with the employer going over their proposal on health care (medical, dental, and vision) and we talked about the Fred Meyer 401(k).

We entered the meeting with an open mind, willing to look at all aspects of a complete package.  After reviewing the employer’s proposed idea for the company health care plan, we came to the conclusion (and verified by costing the plan out), that the costs associated with this plan may be cost prohibitive to our members.  In other words, this plan would not be financially responsible to the membership.

When we look at the monthly cost for the company health insurance, we identified that their plans have a deductable of a minimum of $750 /yr. with a maximum of $2,750 /yr. The employee out of pocket cost, or “co-share,” on the company plans range from a low of $67 /mo. to a high of $124 /mo.  The out of pocket cost come directly from the employee on a weekly or monthly basis.  It is possible that there are other options available but the plans we looked at appeared to be the most common plans and these plans did not include dental nor vision.  If a participant wanted to add those services, they could do so for an additional $8.25 /mo. to $11.25 /mo. with no time loss for short term disability.

In comparison, the Portland Area Health UFCW Local 555 – Employers Health Trust includes medical, dental, vision, and time loss for short term disability, and currently costs members nothing in the form of co-sharing (or monthly/weekly contributions). Also, the deductibles for the Union plan only range from $200 /yr. to $400 /yr. 

We find it interesting that the Kroger benefits booklet and the enrollment guide mentions how Kroger wants its employees to make great choices for great health coverage.  Going even a step further these company booklets say that you, the employee, get to make your own choices for health insurance.  We took the opportunity during this bargaining session to explain to the company representative that this group of employees made a choice back in November 2007 when they voted (by a large margin) to be union. One reason was to be included the Union health plan provided through the trust.  The Union Bargaining Committee believes it is time that Kroger starts to practice what it preaches.

As mentioned earlier, we reviewed the Kroger 401(k) savings plan as well and as a result, we feel we need to request additional information for further review.

We are scheduled to be back at the bargaining table on April 1, 2009.  We will be holding informational meetings for the Fred Meyer non-food employees on March 18.  We encourage you to mark your calendar and look for more information about these meetings in the coming days.