I got back from my latest trip to read my letter from KR that Guild retirees, and everyone else (except executives?), have been forced into PPOs rather than the fee-for-service that I have been under since I started at the BJ in 1968. I thought our 1996 Guild contract prohibited KR from changing our medical coverage.
Oh, we have a "choice," but if we opt to continue using the doctors we have had for decades (my doctor is not on the UHC/KR list although 4 others in his group are), and they are not in the UHC network, then we would pay up to $2,300 more a year than those in the PPO network.
Some "choice."
I have notified the Guild in Cleveland to see what, if anything, it can do for Guild retirees, including a possible class-action suit that would include KR employees across the nation.
If this is allowed to stand, then KR will continue to, in effect, reduce our pension by increasing the costs to us for medical care.
I may be tilting at windmills, but I'm tiring of Tony Ridder buying more yachts by shifting KR costs to its retirees, thereby breaking the promises made when John Knight was in charge, and was a man who kept his word.
By the way, I get this letter in July telling me that KR/UHC forced us into PPOs in January, 7 months retroactively.
I got this reply from Rollie Dreussi, Local Representative of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild, which includes Akron even though it's headquartered in Cleveland. It appears that the Guild is going after KR on a national basis, which is good.
ReplyDeleteRollie's reply to me:
John,
Our Local 1 attorney is working through The Newspaper
Guild's counsel in Washington, D.C., to coordinate
Knight Ridder health care retiree issues nationwide.
We will be in touch with any affected BJ retirees
before any court action is filed. Sorry, but this is a
slow and cumbersome process.
Rollie Dreussi
I guess putting ones name to a promise on paper doesn't mean much to these Ritter folks. It takes integrity and honesty, something they lack.
ReplyDeleteAbout Tony's yacht, there is always the hope of a catastrophe at sea.
Don Roese