ATU 757 Presents Its Health Proposal

Today at the bargaining table, the transit union presented its long-awaited health insurance proposal. It wasn’t what TriMet was expecting. Citing a history of bloated insurance pricing, the Union has proposed that a joint labor-management committee take over the purchasing of insurance and the hiring of consultants.

“We hired experts to look at the raw usage data from the insurance carriers themselves. What they discovered leads us to believe there has been a long history of TriMet not getting the best deals in the insurance marketplace,” said Bruce Hansen, union president.  “We can’t ask our members to pay for over-priced insurance. We need transparency and openness in the process. So far, the secrecy has hurt our members and the taxpayer’s pocketbooks.”

“We hear too often that TriMet employees see the doctor too much. We found out that's not true. Our usage rate is not extraordinary. We’ve found other employee groups with higher use rates, better benefits and lower premiums,” said Hansen. “If we used the money TriMet has contracted to spend on our health insurance this year, we could save the agency and the taxpayers $1.7 million a year.”

Hansen believes that it is crucial that the parties work jointly to find the best insurance plans in terms of employee and taxpayer costs. “TriMet recently claimed it wants its actions to become more participatory and transparent in the community. Since we’re going to be sharing the cost, we think the place to start TriMet’s new approach is with lowering the cost of our health insurance. As with so many problems at TriMet, insurance costs could be resolved if management was willing to engage in joint problem-solving. I keep saying that. Maybe someday they’ll hear it,” he said.