UAW: Helping health care workers advocate for patients and consumers

"The challenges that workers face in the manufacturing industry are many of the same ones we face in the health care industry. We all want the same things from our employers: good wages, decent benefits (including health care) and peace of mind." Andrea Kirby, UAW Local 2500 customer service representative at Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan for 7-1/2 years

The UAW is the union of choice for thousands of America’s health care workers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

UAW members work as nurses, respiratory therapists, X-ray technicians, health aides and fill many other critical positions in community hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and vision care facilities. We work in facilities as varied as a medical office inside an auto plant in Sharonville, Ohio; a  medical communications company in Kokomo, Ind., and a community hospital in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Union members also play a key role in the health insurance industry, as claims processors and customer service representatives at companies such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Delta Dental and the Health Alliance Plan (HAP).

We work in more than 120 health care facilities and 20 health insurance offices, using our voices on the job to advocate for patients under our care and to help patients and their families navigate the insurance system.

Health care and health insurance workers are part of the UAW Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department, which offers assistance in collective bargaining and workplace representation. In addition to the health care industry, UAW TOP members work in diverse industries including child care centers, gaming, higher education and public service.

UAW workers in the health care industry have negotiated several master labor agreements which may encompass employees in several states and multiple regions.

That would include the 2008 agreement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that protected not only benefits of members but maintained health insurance for current and future retirees, a significant accomplishment in tough economic times.

The 2,700 UAW-represented BCBS workers earned wage increases in each year of the three-year contract, expanded tuition benefits, decreased prescription co-pays, increases in retirement benefits and ratification bonuses.

Throughout constant change in the health care industry, UAW members have worked with patients, clients, consumers and employers to put the needs of consumers first.  UAW health care workers, along with union members in other sectors, are committed to the long-term goal of providing quality, affordable health care for all.